Against The Grain - The Podcast

In today's episode we will feature an interview with John Palfrey, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This interview is part of the popular "Views from the Penthouse Suite" series and was conducted by Tom Gilson, Associate Editor, Against the Grain, and Ann Okerson, Senior Advisor, Center for Research Libraries.  In this episode, John talks about his keynote presentation at the 2020 Charleston Conference titled "Do Librarians Matter and What Might Matter to Librarians?"   He discusses the need for a digital public infrastructure, and how librarians can play a major role in the development of such an infrastructure.  He says radical collaboration is needed among collection specialists,  and librarians should pool efforts to fund the Digital Public Library of America and help set standards.  He says collective, well coordinated action will give more power to librarians.  John also discusses how librarians can use their well earned position of trust to combat misinformation. John tal

Today's audio is from a Neopolitan Session of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by Meg White, Senior Consultant, DeltaThink and Director of Vendor Partnerships, Charleston Hub; Richard Hershman, Vice President of Government Relations, National Association of College Stores; Jennifer Chan, Scholarly Communication Librarian,  UCLA; and Lisa Nachtigall, Director, Global Institutional Resellers and Channel Strategy, Oxford University Press. Libraries and bookstores have traditionally co-existed on campus, each serving discrete functions and together, powering the information needed to support the academic and research enterprise. In the era of electronic information, e-learning and the virtual classroom, these traditional roles have been blurred. Who is the gatekeeper for the information needed for research, teaching, and learning? Are there new roles and partnerships emerging for the bookstore and the library and which skill sets are needed? What is the cost of this information and who pays for i

In today's episode we feature the audio from a Neopolitan Session of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by Ashley Farley, Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Stephen Barr, President, SAGE International, and Managing Director, SAGE UK;  Elaine Westbrooks, Vice Provost for University Libraries & University Librarian, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Colleen Campbell, Open Access 2020 Initiative, Max Planck Digital Library. The urgency for broader access to research has accelerated recently as scholars across the globe work swiftly, building upon previous work, to address issues of enormous public significance ranging from COVID-19 to structural racism and police violence. However, the full migration to open access publishing would ultimately see a fundamental reconfiguration of scholarly communications affecting all involved – researchers, funders, universities, libraries, publishers, etc. This session will give an honest take on the OA transition, including

This week's episode features an interview with Greg Eow, President of the Center for Research Libraries. The interview is conducted by Leah Hinds, Executive Director of the Charleston Hub, and Tom Gilson, Associate Editor of Against the Grain. Topics range from the background and function of CRL in the research community, Greg's tenure there and his transition from MIT Libraries, the role of digital and print collections, to the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in research and scholarship with a look forward to decolonizing collections. Before being named president of CRL, Mr. Eow was the Associate Director of Collections at MIT Libraries. Over the past two decades, Greg has worked as an archivist, librarian, historian, and library administrator at Harvard, Yale, Rice, and the DeKalb History Center. He has an M.L.I.S. from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in U.S. History from Rice University.  

In today's episode we feature audio from an Interview of Curtis Brundy, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Communications and Collections, Iowa State University. The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.  Curtis talks with us about his focus on the transformation of scholarly publishing. He says that we are at a unique time with open access; how do we work together with publishers, societies, university presses and libraries to affect this transformation of the scholarly ecosystem using our collection dollars as the lever to help affect that change? Curtis also share's Iowa State's approach to data sharing and their campus wide data sharing task force. Curtis is active in efforts to transform scholarly communications and is especially interested in finding sustainable open models for self-publishing societies and university presses. His work at Iowa State has largely focused on finding ways to shift its traditional subscription

In today's episode we feature audio from an interview of Dr. Brian King, psychologist, stand up comedian and author of the international bestseller The Art of Taking It Easy, How to Cope with Bears, Traffic, and the Rest of Life's Stressors. The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.  The world's largest digital book club, Big Library Read, recently selected Dr. King's Book, The Art of Taking It Easy, for their program.  Public libraries hope to incorporate humor to reduce stress for their readers.      Dr. King received a degree in psychology before touring the world for over a decade as a comedian and the host of humor therapy seminars about how and why we experience stress and the health benefits of humor.  Dr. King tells us that the intent of what he does is to inform and entertain to help people live a happier, healthy life.   

In today's episode we will feature audio from an Interview of Jeff Paul, CEO and Co-Founder, Ziotag. The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.  Today's episode features the next in a series of conversations that ATG the Podcast is pleased to have with startups in the world of scholarly communication, an interview with Jeff Paul of Ziotag. Ziotag was launched in October of 2019, and their goal is to make long format videos searchable, navigable and discoverable using AI tools.     Jeff Paul is the CEO and Cofounder of Ziotag.  He is a lifelong learner and accomplished streaming media software professional with an expertise in the learning and development space.  Jeff is building out the emerging market of AI Driven video platforms and helping organizations get more value and usefulness from their learning, training and educational video libraries.  Jeff was a Co-founder of the industry's first streaming media video tagging tool, Veotag, i

In today's episode we feature an interview of Philip Hess, Head of Publisher Relations, Knowledge Unlatched; and Marcel Wrzesinski, Open Access Officer, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society.  The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.  We'll hear from Philip and Marcel about a German OA project that focuses on supporting small, non-APC, scholar-led journals. It's a Knowledge Unlatched and Humboldt University project. Philipp Hess is currently the Head of Publisher Relations at Knowledge Unlatched and is pursuing a complimentary master's degree at the University of St. Gallen and the University of Arts Berlin in Leadership in digital Innovation. Before that he studied Engineering and Industrial Design in the Netherlands and Japan, before getting into scholarly content while working in the Management Department for Kiron, a platform that offers higher education to refugees. His goal is to make knowledge accessible to everyone, everyw

We're pleased to feature a conversation and interview with Jeffrey MacKie-Mason, University Librarian and economics professor at UC Berkeley, and co-chair of UC's publisher negotiation team, and Ivy Anderson, Associate Executive Director of the California Digital Library and co-chair of UC's publisher negotiation team about the University of California's recent pioneering open access agreement with Elsevier. The interview is conducted by Leah Hinds, Executive Director of the Charleston Hub, and Tom Gilson, Associate Editor of Against the Grain. Link to full press release about the agreement: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-news-uc-secures-landmark-open-access-deal-world-s-largest-scientific-publisher

Conversation with Daniel Garzon, CEO, Booklick In today's episode we will feature audio from a conversation with Daniel Garzon,  CEO of Booklick, a technology company based in Bogata, Columbia.  The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.  There is an energy to a discussion around startups that is very appealing. There is a dynamism and sense of possibility about a new venture that is very different from the staid dynamic of an established organization that is simultaneously consolidating its position in the marketplace and seeking to expand even further. A startup is a hopeful venture and calculated risk of a different variety. ATG has had some recent conversations with Tommy Doyle, who advises a variety of startups and new ventures (and with whom ATG the Podcast has chatted in the past), and Tommy brought to our attention some exciting ventures that sparked our interest. That is why ATG the Podcast is pleased to present a number of conve

Audio from the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by Michael Levine-Clark, Dean of Libraries, University of Denver; Jason Price, Research and Scholarly Communication Director, SCELC, and John McDonald, Director, Product Management, Analytics, EBSCO Information Services.  Faced with unexpected double-digit budget cuts and ever-increasing costs for journal packages, many academic libraries are finding it necessary and/or expedient to unbundle their big deals. Determining the relative value of these packages is not easy, since it requires an understanding of how reduced access will impact users now and into the future. Enter Unsub, a tool designed by researchers to model future library costs based on current patterns of availability and use within each package. Unsub allows librarians to make informed decisions about which titles to keep and which to cancel by identifying alternative access via backfile ownership, open access, and cost-effective use of interlibrary loan (ILL). However, without a suffi

In today's episode we will feature audio from an Interview of Michael Upshall, of UNSILO.  The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.  Michael Upshall is head of sales and business development at UNSILO, the B2B part of Cactus Communications specialising in AI tools. He started in publishing compiling dictionaries, then moved to editing how-to books for Dorling Kindersley, before co-founding reference publisher Helicon Publishing. He has worked with publishers on digital creation and delivery, including The IET, CABI, and Cambridge University Press, as well as managing  projects for JISC, the UK Association for Digital Solutions in UK higher education. He has written articles and books (Content Licensing, Elsevier, 2009), and writes a regular column on digital publishing. Today Michael gives his take on AI in publishing with a focus on feet on the ground reality.    

Audio from Part Two of a keynote of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by Pam Samuelson, Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law, Berkeley Law School, in Berkeley, CA, and moderated by Ann Okerson, Senior Advisor, Center for Research Libraries.  In Part Two of the Long Arm Panel, Pam talks with us about what Controlled Digital Lending is, institutions and people who have endorsed it, the position statement and white paper that explains what the rationale behind it is, the Author's Alliance support for CDL as a Fair Use,  Internet Archive's Open Library as an example of CDL and CDL in the context of the Publisher's lawsuit against Internet Archive, the lawsuit status report, is it fair use or not fair use and risk mitigation strategies. Also featured in this presentation is a tribute to the late Bill Hannay, Partner at Schiff Hardin, who was such a big part of the Long Arm Panel for many years.  Video of the presentation available at https: https://youtu.be/-cByRJJ9GM0

Audio from Part 1 of a keynote of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by Nancy Kirkpatrick, Executive Director/CEO, OhioNET, and moderated by Ann Okerson, Senior Advisor, Center for Research Libraries.  The Long Arm Panel focuses each year on serious legal topics for the information industry.  This year the Long Arm Panel was titled "Revisionist History," and Nancy talks with us about some of the legal aspects on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion, accessibility and anti-racism work in and out of higher ed and their implications for your work, and the cases that she feels are most critical right now.   Video of the presentation available at https: https://youtu.be/-cByRJJ9GM0

In today's episode we will feature audio from an Interview of Scott Garrison,  Executive Director of the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services.  The interview was conducted by Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.   "Scott Garrison serves as Executive Director at the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS). MCLS serves over 650 member libraries of all types and sizes, throughout Indiana and Michigan. MCLS is currently offering members of its Cambridge University Press and Wiley group purchasing groups access to transformative agreement programs with the two publishers. Several MCLS member libraries (ranging from hospital/health sciences to research universities, regional comprehensive universities, private colleges, and a community college) are participating in these programs, to gain experience through participating in emerging models for increasing open access publishing at their institutions." "Most transformative agreements have been negotiated

In today's episode we feature an interview with Stephen Barr, President of SAGE International. This interview is part of the popular "Views from the Penthouse Suite" series and was conducted by Tom Gilson, Associate Editor, Against the Grain, and Matthew Ismail, Director of Collection Development, University of Central Michigan.  In the interview, Stephen talks about his presentation at the 2020 Charleston Conference titled "What Would It Really Take to Achieve The OA transition: An Open Take from a Publisher, a Librarian and a Funder." Stephen gives his take on the Open Access Transition and what this could mean for the scholarly communications system as a whole, and whether a massive, systemic change is inevitable.  Stephen discusses his view of transformative agreements, the potential benefits and limitations involved and what may happen to those who don't do transformative agreements in the future, whether by choice or due to funding restrictions. In a space which can be quite polarized, Stephen says it i

In today's episode we will feature an interview with Dr. Earl Lewis, University of Michigan, Director of Center for Social Solutions. This interview is part of the popular "Views from the Penthouse Suite" series and was introduced by Tom Gilson, Associate Editor, Against the Grain, and conducted by Jim O'Donnell, University Librarian, Arizona State University.  Two weeks ago we featured Dr. Lewis' keynote presentation from the 2020 Charleston Conference where he showed us how leading requires more than managing change, it requires a focus on building a community of grace during such turbulent times. What a wonderful kickoff to the Conference and our new podcast season it was! Tom and Jim caught up with Dr. Lewis after his keynote to speak with him. He talked with them about his experience with libraries growing up in Norfolk, Virginia in the 1960's. He says the library, even in a segregated city at that time, became a more desegregated space for him. He recalls barriers being moved and the "opening up" as law

Audio from a keynote of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, presented by John Palfrey, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, who will share his thoughts on the importance of librarians and their work. The question of "Where to from here?" will be on everyone's mind in the immediate aftermath of both a pandemic and a federal election. Regardless of the outcomes, libraries and librarians will matter. In Palfrey's book, BiblioTech (Basic Books, 2015), he argued that librarians matter more than ever in a digital age. He will share updated thinking on the moment we live in, the possibilities for librarians, the risks information professionals face in unstable times, and why we all rely so heavily on the institution of the library in communities and on campuses. Video of the presentation available at: https://youtu.be/sxmig1FWfW8

Audio from the opening keynote of the 2020 Charleston Library Conference, a presentation by Earl Lewis, Director of the University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions, moderated by Jim O'Donnell, University Librarian at Arizona State University. Headlines scream, horns blare, neighbors march, bodies mount, and the pace of change never seems to abate. Life can seem out of control. America can appear divided along any number of fault lines. Against this backdrop, Earl Lewis argues that leading requires more than managing change, it requires a focus on building a community of grace. Video of the presentation available at https://youtu.be/CtVvQvxnZA8.

On today's episode, Matthew Ismail, Editor in Chief of the Charleston Briefings: Trending Topics for Information Professionals, and Director of Collection Development at Central Michigan University talks with Sara Bosshart of IWA Publishing and Philipp Hess of Knowledge Unlatched about why the subscribe-to-open model of open access is a good fit for IWA Publishing Journals. International Water Association Publishing is a small society publisher that is working with Knowledge Unlatched to convert their remaining 10 subscription journals to open access. Sara Bosshart is Open Access Publisher for IWA Publishing of the International Water Association. Philipp Hess is Head of Publisher Relations with Knowledge Unlatched.