Open Educational Resources Task Force Meeting: October 15, 2019

Members attending: Annette Alvarado (Loyola University Chicago), Sara Benson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Anne Chernaik, co-chair (College of Lake County), Elizabeth Nelson (McHenry County College), Anne Shelley (Illinois State University), Sue Shultz (DePaul University), Janet Swatscheno, co-chair (University of Illinois at Chicago), Linda Zellmer (Western Illinois University)

Members absent:  Kathy Ladell (Northern Illinois University)

Staff attending:  Elizabeth Clarage, Anne Craig, Lorna Engels

Tasks Assigned

• Anne Shelley will take minutes.
• CARLI will update and print trifold brochure to include in packets at CARLI Annual Meeting.
• CARLI will print the handout “Differentiating Between Open Access and Open Educational Resources” from Virginia Tech to include in packets at the CARLI Annual Meeting.
• Janet will start a Google doc for a state funding proposal and share it with the committee. Janet, Sue, Sara, and Anne S. will work on the document before the October 31 deadline.
• Elizabeth C. working with Anne Craig will contact the ILA Public Policy Committee chair to ask about logistics of submitting a proposal.

Decision

• May minutes approved.

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • Illinois State University is hosting a speaker and screening of Paywall documentary for Open Access Week, also planning workshops on 3D printing and text mining.
  • University of Illinois-Chicago is coordinating an Open Access Escape Room game, based on a CC-BY-licensed example from another university. UIC is also hosting a workshop on discovery tools for OER (OTN, OER Commons), and other open access workshops.
  • Linda at Western Illinois University recently gave a workshop on predatory journals, conference, and publishers/choosing a publisher. Four people attended. Linda spoke with someone at IBHE, at the request of a WIU faculty member who is on an IBHE steering committee that had discussed OER. Linda conveyed what CARLI has done and sent links to SPARC resources. Linda also recently created online maps related to Thanksgiving; she will share a URL with the task force.
  • Annette at Loyola University Chicago has been assisting in locating chemistry OERs in Spanish to support a new program on campus.
  • Sara at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is co-chairing a campus task force on OER, which is a response to a resolution passed by the Senate at student urging. Sara is also giving webinar for ACRL during Open Access Week.
  • Sue at DePaul University is working on a benchmarking project with a library colleague. It is an assessment project for the Center for Teaching and Learning. They are reviewing OER information on the library’s website, a survey and interviews will follow. They hope the project will help guide the library’s direction for OER support. Sue is also giving an OER training session in May with an instructional designer.
• CARLI Announcements:
  • CARLI is preparing for the ACRL Roadshow on Standards for Libraries in Higher Education which will take place October 29. Registration is full and closed.
  • The CARLI Annual Meeting is Friday, November 15. Handouts related to OER will be included in attendee packets.
  • The CARLI / UIUC iSchool Career Fair is November 14. Registration is expected to be around 200-300 students. All CARLI Governing Members are invited to have a presence at the Career Fair.
  • CARLI is preparing for the next cohort of CARLI Counts. The two sessions for this next cohort will take place in spring and summer 2020. Applications are due December 4, 2019.
  • Anne Craig provided updates on CARLI staff transitions.
  • Lorna reported that test instances of Alma are being pushed out to member libraries in the next week or so. CARLI is offering Alma training session this fall with Ex Libris presenters at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Joliet Junior College, Wheaton College, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Primo VE trainings will be coming later.

Discussion

• Review responses from OERTF Year 3 Priorities Survey
  • Janet reported that five, maybe six people responded to the survey.
  • The top priority is identifying and securing funding: statewide support, facilitating statewide sharing of OER, and advocating for state support.
  • Discussion about how to proceed. Anne Craig suggests involving ILA Public Policy Committee. Proposals for new initiatives are due to this committee October 31, 2019 to be considered in the legislative session that starts in 2020. Academic libraries do not have direct grant allocation from the Secretary of State, and they are the only library classification for which this is the case. Discussion about timing for submitting and what a proposal would look like. Anne said a proposal would be a memo that states pros and cons, supporters and detractors, general description of idea, committee would consider it and then pass on to lobbyist: what is it we want, who would object, where would funds come from? Sue asked if there are examples we could look at. Linda suggested reviewing the SPARC public policy website. Elizabeth C. suggested asking the chair of the public policy committee if there is a format we should follow, and who should submit it to the committee. General consensus that we should try to submit something by deadline of October 31. Janet will start a Google doc and share it with the committee. Anne C. shared draft of a previous proposal for us to consider. Sue asked how we identify potential funding sources. Anne C. recommended the State Library, also mentioned that Governor’s Office has grants available for projects. Discussion about ways to involve Dick Durbin – speculation that he would be supportive but not champion it because he is at federal level. Sara reported that Durbin’s staff said he has a history of earmarking funds to State of Illinois but it’s not a reliable and sustainable source of funding. We need to specify how much money to ask for – suggestion to look at what other states have asked for (SPARC is a possible resource). Linda suggested looking at states that have similar populations and offered help getting population data. CARLI will figure out expectations for submitting proposal. Anne thinks Board of Higher Education will be interested.
  • Another common suggestion was to hold a statewide conference on OER
  • Other suggestions were to support librarian education on OER and to create training materials for librarians on OER topics.
• Other
  • Elizabeth C. asked if the group plans to meet in person this year. Anne Chernaik and Janet will discuss and get back to the group.
  • At the November meeting, we will discuss the proposal that will have been submitted at that point as well as other suggestions for what to do this year.

Next Meeting

Tuesday, November 19 @ 1 p.m.