Lyrasis recently joined OASPA as member in the Infrastructure & Services (Non-Commercial) category. Lyrasis joins a growing list of almost 220 OASPA members. We asked Sharla Lair, Senior Strategist, Open Access & Scholarly Communication Initiatives, a few questions so we could learn more about Lyrasis and the decision to become an OASPA member.
Q. Tell us a bit about your organisation and the service it provides
Lyrasis is a US 501(c)3 non-profit membership organization that strengthens the library, archives, museum and research communities by convening, leveraging groups for greater impact, fostering collaboration and innovation, supporting open technologies, and working with partners to develop new models for Open Access. Lyrasis is home to a wide array of vital community programs, content services, technology hosting, scholarly communications initiatives, and community-governed open source technologies.
Q. Why did you decide to join OASPA and what do you hope to get out of your OASPA membership?
As the scholarly communication ecosystem evolves, we are aligning our work more intentionally with other organizations that share our values. Lyrasis seeks partners and communities whose principles not only align with our own, but that use those principles as catalysts for action by leading through transparent governance structures, facilitating inclusive discourse, and empowering a multiple stakeholder community to broaden impact through collaboration. Lyrasis chose to join OASPA because OASPA exemplifies these qualities. We are eager to engage with the OASPA community and convene with others to identify collaborative opportunities in the advancement of open scholarship.
Q. What are the short and medium-term priorities for your organisation/publication in relation to open scholarship?
Lyrasis is engaging with the communities we serve and our content providers to foster collaboration and affect positive and sustainable change as we adapt for a future where open is the default. We have used our expertise and close connections with our community to provide robust support for a growing portfolio of open content programs that prioritize smaller, non-commercial publishers developing collective revenue models with no APCs or BPCs. Lyrasis has also formed communities around open infrastructure services like ORCiD, DataCite, and IRUS-US, that support data exchange and interoperability to enhance scholarly communication. We are committed to continuing our work in this area, with priorities of 1) growing and diversifying the open program portfolio to provide more opportunities for institutions of all types and sizes to invest in open; and 2) increasing engagement in multi-stakeholder conversations and collaborations at the national and global level.
Q. What do you think are the main challenges for the communication of scholarship generally in the near future?
The key challenge is to develop and support sustainable models that connect global scholarship and researchers without disenfranchisement or marginalization of certain communities. Diverse pathways to openness are desirable and essential, along with modernized approaches to maintain the integrity of the scientific record.
We remain siloed by geography, a sense of ownership, and proposed one-size-fits-all solutions that work well for certain segments and not others. We need to knit together a broader vision that transcends “our authors,” “our country,” “our discipline,” to make progress towards a connected global open scholarly communication ecosystem. The widespread adoption of agreed-upon standards that support system interoperability is a key part of the infrastructure needed to reduce barriers to the global scholarly information exchange.
Q. How do you think OASPA can help mitigate those challenges?
OASPA has positioned itself to be a trusted convener and community builder. The organization facilitates fascinating discussions, and it also catalyzes action around the ideas that emerge from those discussions. As OASPA focuses its energies toward increasing connection, conversation, learning, and action across stakeholder communities, its work will reveal the diversity in the global scholarly communication ecosystem and provide impactful ways for everyone to engage. As a result, we will be able to develop realistic steps and directions that will bring us closer to our shared vision of a more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible global network of effective scholarly communication.
