Mapping the landscape of selected research topics is vital in order to meet many of the challenges our community faces. The 2019 survey, “Understanding the Landscape of Library Accessibility for Online Materials” helped LYRASIS and its members see what is actually happening in our community to address the challenges of making online resources accessible. Survey respondents represented every type of library, research institution, and other GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) institution of every size. Research results have the ability to help each institution understand both what our community is doing holistically as well as how their efforts compare and contribute to initiatives at peer institutions.
Understanding where we stand as a community provides a starting point from which to tackle big challenges. The 2020 surveys and resulting reports, which will focus on understanding the actual landscape of American institutional activities surrounding open content and publishing, and on the DEAI (Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, Inclusion) initiatives that institutions have implemented to engage their staff and evaluate their collections, will be the first step in many joint initiatives to move our community forward.
How were the LYRASIS 2020 LYRASIS Research themes selected?
During the Member Summit in Chicago (2019), Leader Circle Members in attendance selected two topics for further research in 2020. The LYRASIS Content and Scholarly Communication Initiatives Division is conducting an open content survey for the scholarly publishing topic to learn and understand what institutions are doing regarding supporting and/or establishing open scholarly communication publications. The DEAI survey will focus on initiatives within libraries, research institutions, archives and museums and how those initiatives ensure staff engagement and diverse collections.
Timeline for LYRASIS 2020 Research
- September – December 2019: Plan research
- January – March 2020: Conduct research on Scholarly
Publishing
- March – May 2020: Conduct research on DEAI
- Present initial findings at member forums
- June –July 2020: Publish two white papers (open access)
How can I participate in the 2020 research initiatives?
As of January 15th, 2020, we have released our first survey for the year! The survey is focused on open content, and will cover library involvement with open access scholarship, open data, and open educational resources. We encourage you to fill out our survey and add your institutional experience to the results. The survey can be found at: http://bit.ly/388Ws5Q. Our next survey will be released in March, and we look forward to your participation then as well.
How will the results of the 2020 LYRASIS surveys benefit the LYRASIS community?
The 2020 surveys and resulting reports, which focus on understanding the actual landscape of American institutional activities surrounding open content and publishing, and on the DEAI initiatives that institutions are doing to engage their staff and evaluate their collections are envisioned as the first step in establishing joint initiatives to move our community forward.
LYRASIS Research is a way to thank members for their commitment to LYRASIS. We are fortunate to have a strong, diverse group of members, without whom we could not tackle our industries’ greatest challenges. By funding annual research initiatives selected by Leaders Circle members we can address topics of interest to our members by using our resources to help our broad community learn more about itself as a whole. This is why both topics selected this year—scholarly publishing and DEAI—were the most popular research topics voted on at our annual member meeting. The surveys are being created using member focus groups and feedback.
This research is also an opportunity for members to give back to each other. Every member benefits from the information shared by every other member who participates in the research. Our members’ joint commitment to sharing information results in vital information that everyone can benefit from. For more information about LYRASIS Research please contact Hannah Rosen, Content and Scholarly Communication Specialist, hannah.rosen@lyrasis.org .