SCOPA Meeting Minutes
SCOPA Meeting: 26 June 2000
Present: Tom Hyry (Chair), Calvin Hsu, Erika Heinen, Jennifer Kostelnik, Stephanie Schmitt, Ellen Doon (recording)
Absent: Dajin Sun, Diane Turner
Grant recipient forum:
Erika reported that the date for this is not set, but it should happen in late July, as previously discussed. One of the three recipients from last year is no longer at Yale, so the forum will feature only two presentations.
Tom made the point that the SCOPA grants program should be better advertised this year, with announcements about the program going out on Yulib monthly from August until the deadline for submission at the end of October. He also suggested that we discuss the structure of the grants program at a future meeting.
Fall forum series:
Jennifer shared an email from Ann Okerson which offered advice and suggestions about the planned series of forums on electronic scholarly publishing; one of her suggestions was that we narrow or more clearly focus the topic.
There was some discussion about the format the three sessions should take--whether they should be straight presentations by two or three people at each session or more of a panel discussion with short opening remarks by each of the panel members. The latter would allow for engaging discussion between panel members, who might represent very different points of view, as well as between the panel and the audience.
There was a general concern about both attendance and content of and the third session, which is currently scheduled to be a discussion of the previous two sessions. Step made the point that the quality of the third session will depend on the first two. Tom suggested that we try to keep that final discussion locally focused: we will have learned about the bigger picture from several outside perspectives, and should now be able to discuss how that relates to or impacts the way things are done at Yale. Erika suggested that we compile notes, or summaries, of the ideas brought up at each of the first two sessions and post them to Yulib before the next session to maintain continuity and interest throughout the series.
Discussion then turned to the structure and content of the first two sessions:
Session I: This session was outlined as a presentation of the views of librarians and researchers on the electronic scholarly publishing process: a discussion of the wants and needs of both. The speakers would be a researcher/faculty member and a librarian who is very knowledgeable on the topic. Ellen suggested that a third category of speaker/panel member be added, someone representing a third perspective, from the publishing community or, as Jennifer put it, a "big picture thinker," to keep the focus broad enough to lead naturally into the following session. Erika suggested that we should include both science and humanities representatives in this discussion--perhaps a researcher/scholar and librarian from each discipline. Jennifer pointed out that Ann Okerson had suggested that we include editors from the Yale community in this discussion, as they are not only scholars but are responsible for the publication of other's work.
Session II: It was agreed that the topic,"current models of electronic publications," needs to be narrowed down somewhat before we can think about specific speakers to invite. Jennifer suggested that we put forth some ideas for specific areas or questions to focus on, think on our own about what is most important, and discuss it again at the next meeting. The list of questions/topics discussed:
*Cost of access to journals
*Ownership and responsibility for long-term storage
*Distribution and facilitation (standards groups)
*Peer review, scholarly credibility and credit (preprint archives and timely access to research data versus pirating of ideas)
Idea for future type of forum:
Calvin presented an idea for a type of SCOPA presentation radically different from the current model. He suggested that SCOPA members research a topic of their own particular interest in librarianship and present a summary of what they discovered to the Yale library community at large in a SCOPA forum. This could be done individually, or each of the eight members could research a different facet of one topic. All members present stated concern about the time that such research would take, and about the value of this manner of collecting and presenting information as compared to the current model of inviting speakers more knowledgeable than ourselves to speak on the same topics. Step suggested that this might work as a brown-bag lunch series; Calvin said that he was thinking of something more formal than that. The idea was reserved for further discussion.
Respectfully submitted,
Ellen Doon
| Back to SCOPA Minutes 2000 | SCOPA Home Page |