New tools promote wider sharing of research for scholars across disciplines

CHICAGO – The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) have released a new series of bookmarks in the Create Change campaign, which targets scholars in different disciplines with messages about the benefits of wider research sharing. Librarians can use these freely available files to enhance their efforts to engage faculty interest in changing the way scholarly information is shared.

The Create Change Web site emphasizes the rapid and irreversible changes occurring in the ways faculty share and use academic research results. The site outlines how the advancement of knowledge is fueled by accelerating and enhancing sharing – of journal articles, research data, simulations, syntheses, analyses and other findings. Create Change offers faculty practical ways to look out for their own interests as researchers and delivers the personal perspectives of scholars in 10 different disciplines, from music therapy to chemistry to microbiology, on the benefits of sharing. New interviews are added regularly.

The first bookmarks highlight comments from four researchers:

• Dr. Linda Hutcheon, Professor of English, University of Toronto
• Dr. David Morrison, Professor of Mathematics, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Dr. Carolyn Kenny, Professor of Human Development, Antioch University
• Dr. Gary Ward, Professor of Microbiology, University of Vermont
  

Comments are drawn from full-length interviews published on the Create Change Web site at http://www.createchange.org and target the advantages of depositing works in a digital repository, the ways communication should change in the digital environment, the impact of Open Access and how to maximize scientific progress.

Libraries are invited to print directly from the Website in the easy-to-use letter-size format or to download the bookmarks and modify them as needed for their campus. Insert your logo and contact information or add examples from your faculty and its disciplines.

For more details and to download, visit the Create Change Web site at http://www.createchange.org.

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ACRL

ACRL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing more than 13,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments. ACRL is on the Web at http://www.acrl.org.

ARL

ARL is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org.

SPARC

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance of more than 800 academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication. SPARC's advocacy, educational and publisher partnership programs encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/sparc.