Illinois Wesleyan University is one of 12 partner libraries, including the Claremont Colleges, University of Alberta, University of Michigan, University of Pittsburgh, and others, joining the Library Publishing Coalition and the Educopia Institute to explore best practice in scholarly journal publishing as part of library publishing programs.
The Ames Library has long been a leader in exploring the potential for academic libraries to serve as a platform for open access scholarly publishing, primarily through the use of our Digital Commons repository to provide access to a wide range of scholarly and creative works produced by IWU students, faculty and staff, including undergraduate research journals. By participating in this project, funded through a US Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant, IWU will contribute to a critical discussion of workflow practices, scalability, and sustainability for open access library publishing services, including those designed to extend the reach and impact of undergraduate research programs in liberal arts colleges.
In the contemporary information environment, students must learn not only how to discover, access, and evaluate the work of others, but also about their own opportunities (and responsibilities) as content creators. Ames Library faculty collaborate with colleagues across the university to find opportunities to integrate scholarly communications education with information literacy instruction as part of teaching, learning, and scholarship in all fields.
Illinois Wesleyan University is an Initial Contributing Member of the Library Publishing Coalition, and Digital Commons has become an integral component of undergraduate research programs at the university, including the John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference (with contributed posters available here). Scholarly and creative works published through Digital Commons have been downloaded by users around the world over 350,000 times in the past year alone. If you would like to know more about open access initiatives and scholarly communications education at Illinois Wesleyan, or would like to discuss opportunities to publish your work through Digital Commons, please contact Stephanie Davis-Kahl, Collections and Scholarly Communications Librarian.