Assessing the Scholarly Communication Attitudes and Practices of Faculty: Lessons from a “Failed” Survey

INTRODUCTION This paper reports on a survey administered to faculty at Chapman University to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practices with regard to scholarly communications, in order to help the new scholarly communications librarian plan appropriate library programs and services to meet fa...

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Main Author: Kristin Laughtin-Dunker
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Iowa State University Digital Press 2014-08-01
Series:Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication
Online Access:https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/id/12721/
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author Kristin Laughtin-Dunker
author_facet Kristin Laughtin-Dunker
author_sort Kristin Laughtin-Dunker
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description INTRODUCTION This paper reports on a survey administered to faculty at Chapman University to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practices with regard to scholarly communications, in order to help the new scholarly communications librarian plan appropriate library programs and services to meet faculty needs. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM The survey was adapted from the Institute on Scholarly Communications’ “Faculty Involvement in Scholarly Communications Opportunity Assessment Instrument” for a faculty audience in early fall 2013. It “failed” in that it faced long administrative delays and was met with a low response rate when finally published in December 2013. However, the responses received were enough to deduce general trends and gaps in faculty knowledge about scholarly communications, including a misunderstanding of the meaning of open access, misconceptions about its quality, concern with how publicly accessible research and data could be used by others, and a desire for information on how to manage, preserve, and share data. NEXT STEPS Both the survey results and the obstacles encountered in the survey’s administration provided important lessons in how to structure, market, and assess the impact of future scholarly communications discussions, such as those surrounding the university’s upcoming institutional repository. While the survey itself might have “failed,” these lessons can be applied to future endeavors in order to contribute to the long-term success of the faculty and the university as a whole.
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spelling doaj.art-67c12d60d0d149558032ae7cfbb3b2f12024-04-04T17:31:37ZengIowa State University Digital PressJournal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication2162-33092014-08-012310.7710/2162-3309.1164Assessing the Scholarly Communication Attitudes and Practices of Faculty: Lessons from a “Failed” SurveyKristin Laughtin-Dunker0Chapman University Leatherby Libraries One University Drive Orange, CA 92866INTRODUCTION This paper reports on a survey administered to faculty at Chapman University to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practices with regard to scholarly communications, in order to help the new scholarly communications librarian plan appropriate library programs and services to meet faculty needs. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM The survey was adapted from the Institute on Scholarly Communications’ “Faculty Involvement in Scholarly Communications Opportunity Assessment Instrument” for a faculty audience in early fall 2013. It “failed” in that it faced long administrative delays and was met with a low response rate when finally published in December 2013. However, the responses received were enough to deduce general trends and gaps in faculty knowledge about scholarly communications, including a misunderstanding of the meaning of open access, misconceptions about its quality, concern with how publicly accessible research and data could be used by others, and a desire for information on how to manage, preserve, and share data. NEXT STEPS Both the survey results and the obstacles encountered in the survey’s administration provided important lessons in how to structure, market, and assess the impact of future scholarly communications discussions, such as those surrounding the university’s upcoming institutional repository. While the survey itself might have “failed,” these lessons can be applied to future endeavors in order to contribute to the long-term success of the faculty and the university as a whole.https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/id/12721/
spellingShingle Kristin Laughtin-Dunker
Assessing the Scholarly Communication Attitudes and Practices of Faculty: Lessons from a “Failed” Survey
Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication
title Assessing the Scholarly Communication Attitudes and Practices of Faculty: Lessons from a “Failed” Survey
title_full Assessing the Scholarly Communication Attitudes and Practices of Faculty: Lessons from a “Failed” Survey
title_fullStr Assessing the Scholarly Communication Attitudes and Practices of Faculty: Lessons from a “Failed” Survey
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the Scholarly Communication Attitudes and Practices of Faculty: Lessons from a “Failed” Survey
title_short Assessing the Scholarly Communication Attitudes and Practices of Faculty: Lessons from a “Failed” Survey
title_sort assessing the scholarly communication attitudes and practices of faculty lessons from a failed survey
url https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/id/12721/
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