UOW Library has released a new episode of the Light On podcast, focused on this years theme for Open Access Week: Open for Climate Justice.
The podcast is hosted by Sam Hutchinson, produced by (Digidex Blog member) Kristy Newton and features UOW academics Georgia Watson and Distinguished Professor Sharon Robinson, PhD candidate Teaniel Mifsud, and UOW Library’s Clare Job.
In the podcast, you’ll hear about:
how citizen science and science communication contribute to the accessibility of research for a wider audience
how the current Antarctic Futures exhibition at UOW combines scientific research, art and early learning activities to engage people of all ages with social justice and climate science.
how citizen science not only informed UOW research on how people encounter sharks while swimming, surfing or sailing, but also grew into a communication tool and opportunity for sharing knowledge between those involved too
how much people engage with the content in Research Online, because it wouldn’t be a UOW Library podcast without some Research Online statistics! (spoiler: already 2 million downloads this year).
If you’d like to discover more about our podcast guests, you can find them on Twitter. Sharon Robinson is @Antarcticmoss, Georgia Watson is @EcoloGee_, Teaniel Mifsud is @teanielmarie, podcast host Sam Hutchinson is @Saminthelibrary and podcast producer Kristy Newton is @librariano.
Click on the image to open the podcast in a new tab
By Craig Murdoch, Manager, Online & Open Initiatives, Auckland University of Technology Library
What if the products we choose to work with could help us become digitally dextrous?
At the Auckland University of Technology Library we’ve made a conscious decision to prefer open source software solutions where possible. We recently completed our implementation of the Koha library management system, adding this solution on top of VuFind for search and discovery, DSpace for our institutional repository Tuwhera and Open Journal Systems for our publishing initiatives. It’s fascinating to talk to people about why we’ve gone in this direction. The over-riding assumptions are that the main driver is either saving money, or because we have a fabulous pool of skilled staff who can ‘work’ these systems.
Of course it’s true that in some cases we have saved some money by going open source, but it is far from the primary motivation for us. In fact, the reasons we prefer open source are more about what it means for us as librarians, and I believe this ties in strongly with the goals of the Digital Dexterity framework for library professionals.
So, what benefits do we get as staff from working with open source technologies?
We build capacity and capability in our staff. By taking ownership and control of our software solutions we can improve our own engagement and motivation. We learn new skills, we understand systems on a deeper level, we develop new abilities to communicate with those working in areas like IT, documentation, research, security, and data.
We get to control our own destiny. Sounds dramatic but it’s true! We gain the flexibility to be able to decide what we want to do with our systems, what is important to us. We drive change rather than responding to it (or not seeing it at all). We get to try things, make mistakes, and most importantly, take ownership for fixing them.
We get to work closely with a huge global community of librarians, software developers, and vendors to improve and extend the systems we use. When it comes to the development of new features we are partners, contributors, and sometimes even funders.
We learn more about, and take more responsibility for, safeguarding our data and that of our institution’s members.
We improve our decision-making, analysis and planning skills with respect to software development and spending (partly driven by the fact that we can no longer say “it’s the vendor’s fault”).
Where does this fit with the Digital Dexterity framework?
In a sense the answer is “Where doesn’t it?” but these are the words that jump out for me, because working with open source fosters growth in all these areas:
Confidence To contribute meaningfully to complex discussions and broader communities.
Creativity To courageously think outside the square and build our own future.
Collaboration To work with generosity in a culture of sharing.
Capability To build and enhance the skill sets we need.
Critical thinking To support decisions which we must take increased responsibility for.
Which I think is a long way of saying that open source has created an environment where we are enabled to become better librarians, smarter humans, and more capable digital citizens. I’d love to hear whether this resonates with others.
