The Authority File

In the second episode of this four-part series, Elysia French, Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at Brock University, and Amanda White, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Curating in the Department of Visual Art at Western University, discuss the guiding principle of “environmentally engaged arts” in their coedited title  Ecologies in Practice: Environmental...

The coeditors of  Ecologies in Practice: Environmentally Engaged Arts in Canada , Elysia French, Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at Brock University, and Amanda White, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Curating in the Department of Visual Art at Western University, join the program discuss the organization, development, and geographical focus of their boo...

In the final episode of this four-part series, Jamie Hutchins, Director of Open Research, Americas for Taylor & Francis Group, walks through lessons learned since  Pledge to Open ’s official launch last summer. Surfacing strategies like pricing adjustments and expanded benefits for participating institutions, Jamie explains how T&F is working to develop the pilot into a sustainable and aff...

In the third episode of this series, Jamie Hutchins, Director of Open Research, Americas for Taylor & Francis Group, discusses the library’s role in open access publishing. First, Jamie describes the publisher’s initial contact with libraries when recruiting for  Pledge to Open , a collective model for institutions to fund open access titles on global challenges. As he explains, the library’s...

In the second episode of this four-part series, Jamie Hutchins, Director of Open Research, Americas for Taylor & Francis Group, digs into T&F’s  Pledge to Open , a collective funding pilot that aims to publish open access books focused on global issues. Detailing the brainstorming and launch of the program, Jamie discusses the publisher’s decision to support open book publishing and the pi...

In July 2023, Taylor & Francis launched the Pledge to Open pilot , a collective model in which institutions can pledge funding for open access titles centered on global challenges. Jamie Hutchins, Director of Open Research, Americas for Taylor & Francis Group, joins TAF as the deadline for the pilot’s funding window approaches to discuss the program’s progress and detail how publishers can...

In the final episode of this four-part series, Ritu Dhand, Chief Scientific Officer at Springer Nature, chats about increasing staff buy-in for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She details several efforts from Springer Nature including mandatory employee training, an SDG Impact Challenge, volunteer SDG working groups, and providing recognition via awards for SDG Heroes. As the 2030 deadli...

In the final episode of this four-part series, our guests dive into preventative measures against predatory publishing and emerging threats. To start, Ruth Bailey, Journal Auditor at Cabells, explains how open access has shifted predatory publishing practices, with problematic journals taking advantage of author processing charges that have become normalized in the OA market. Next, Ashley Carroll,...

In the third episode of this four-part series, Ritu Dhand, Chief Scientific Officer of Springer Nature, underscores the need to engage with and support the Global South in scholarly communication. She walks through the rising research output and impact from nonwestern nations in recent years and the unconscious bias in peer reviewers and editorial boards that prevent this scholarship from reaching...

In the third episode of our four-part series on predatory publishing, our guests share key steps of the evaluative process for  Cabells Predatory Reports . As Yasmeen Zubair, Journals Manager at Cabells, explains, the  74 criteria help identify a journal’s intent to deceive and are updated according to input from scholars, social media chatter, and emerging trends. In addition, Ruth Bailey, Journa...

In the second episode of this four-part series, Ritu Dhand, Chief Scientific Officer at Springer Nature, digs into Springer Nature’s editorial and publication strategies that support the  UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Aiming to create community and collaboration around the Goals, Springer has introduced initiatives to make SDG content more discoverable and fit the modern scholar’s nee...

In the second episode of this four-part series, our guests from scholarly analytics service Cabells dig into predatory journal tactics and the characteristics of the journal market that make it vulnerable to predatory practices. First, Ruth Bailey, Journal Auditor, and Ashley Carroll, Project Manager, explain how the online journal environment, prevalence of open access publication charges, and la...

Formally adopted in 2015, the  United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  are fast approaching their 2030 end date. To recruit the publishing industry, the UN introduced the  SDG Publishers Compact  in 2020, an open agreement that encourages stakeholders to adopt sustainable business strategies and publish content in support of the goals. In this four-part series, we discuss the publish...

More than an inconvenience or nuisance, predatory publishing practices can inflict lasting harm onto scholarship, researchers, and the academic publishing landscape. To discuss this incessant and, as one guest frames it, “whack-a-mole” issue, the speakers for this four-part series provide their expertise as part of scholarly analytics service Cabells. Evaluating potentially predatory journals thro...

In the final episode of this four-part series on the recent  white paper from Technology from Sage and Skilltype on the librarian skills landscape , our guests look at how artificial intelligence technologies will (or won’t) impact the library workforce and successful support mechanisms to help staff develop their skills. First, David Erlandson, Head of Cataloguing and Metadata Services at Rice Un...

In the final episode of this four-part series, Dale Jacobs, author of  On Comics and Grief , discusses the title’s epilogue and the future of comics studies. First, Dale walks through the feedback he received from peer reviewers that encouraged him to conclude on a more hopeful note. Highlighting the benefits of peer review, he chats about his decision to include reviewer comments in the epilogue....

In the third episode of this four-part series, our guests tackle the on the ground realities of librarian skill development following the recent white paper from Technology from Sage and Skilltype,  Librarian Futures Part III: The Librarian Skills Landscape . Marcy Simons, Director of Hesburgh Libraries Organizational and Personnel Development at the University of Notre Dame, and Tony Zanders, Fou...

In the third episode of this four-part series, Dale Jacobs, author of  On Comics and Grief , discusses the book’s creative nonfiction framework that blends comics studies scholarship with the grief over the loss of his mother. Dale takes us back to the beginning of the title, starting with an article that saw his nostalgia and grief as an access point into the text, rather than a roadblock. Walkin...

In the second episode of this four-part series, our guests parse through key takeaways and findings from the recent white paper  Librarian Futures Part III: The Librarian Skills Landscape , a partnership between Technology from Sage and Skilltype. To start, Tony Zanders, Founder & CEO of Skilltype, and Matthew Weldon, Library Patron Consultant at Technology from Sage and author of the report,...

In the second episode of this four-part series, Dale Jacobs, author of  On Comics and Grief , dives deeper into the structure and making of his title, a creative nonfiction work that blends memories of his late mother with analysis of comics published in 1976. First, he explains his thought process behind selecting a wide variety of publishers and comics to research, extending beyond the superhero...

In this four part-series, Tony Zanders, Founder & CEO of Skilltype, Matthew Weldon, Library Patron Consultant at Technology from Sage, David Erlandson, Head of Cataloguing and Metadata Services at Rice University Fondren Library, and Marcy Simons, Director of Hesburgh Libraries Organizational and Personnel Development at the University of Notre Dame, discuss the current landscape of librarian...

In this four-part series, comics studies scholar and author Dale Jacobs digs into his latest book,  On Comics and Grief , an exploration of comics published in 1976 interwoven with his grief in the wake of his mother’s death. The book’s creative nonfiction structure blends Dale’s memories of his family with comics spanning romance, war, children, teen, fantasy, and, of course, superhero genres. As...

In the final episode of this four-part series, Nathan Rupp, Acquisitions & E-Resources Librarian at Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, discusses digital preservation practices and whole ebook lending trends at Purdue. He first emphasizes the institution’s digital-first approach and how that impacts the availability of materials down the line. As Nathan explains, sto...

In the third episode of this four-part series, Nathan Rupp, Acquisitions & E-Resources Librarian at Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, digs into the details of evaluating and negotiating resource licenses. He first walks through his  March 2024 Against the Grain article  where he outlined key items he looks for in resource licenses. Sharing Purdue’s needs regarding...

In the second episode of this four-part series, Nathan Rupp, Acquisitions & E-Resources Librarian at Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, talks navigating vendor platforms and adapting to the evolving e-resources ecosystem. Comparing vendor offerings, he explains the differences in accessibility between public library platforms and academic ones—and theorizes why the...