Innovation and Change in Scholarly Communication Survey

As scholars begin using social networking sites such as the Nature Network and Blog Scholar to exchange ideas, the impact these venues have on our academic community will become of increasing importance. For example, what impact will these trends have on traditional academic publishing, the peer review process, and issues related to promotion and tenure? Will scholars be forced to conform to the old standards or will publishers and university administrations need to find new ways of evaluating scholarship? Of particular interest to this study is the impact these trends will have on academic libraries as we rethink our role as key providers of information. While these issues are still emerging, there is no doubt that the future of academic publishing and the role of academic libraries will be quite different than it is today. This study proposes to make some initial assessments about where we are and what we should look for as these changes continue to unfold.

Your participation in this study will involve completing the attached survey. The results of the survey will provide us with some insight into how scholarly communication is changing in relation to the emerging trends in social software and open source publishing. The results will be helpful as the library looks to the next decade and assesses ways to improve our services and use of space. The results of this survey will also be presented at the 2008 Florida Library Association Conference.

Please note that you must be at least 18 years old to participate in this survey and that you will not receive any compensation for your participation. Your involvement will take no more time than is necessary to complete the questions we have provided. This survey will be conducted through Survey Gold and the data collected will be anonymous… no personal information will be required. Submission of a completed questionnaire implies consent to participate, but you have the right not to answer any question for any reason and you may terminate your involvement at any time.

Research at the University of Central Florida involving human participants is carried out under the oversight of the Institutional Review Board. Questions and concerns about research participants’ rights may be directed toward the UCF IRB office, University of Central Florida, Office of Research & Commercialization, 12201 Research Parkway, Suite 501, Orlando, FL 32826-3246, or by campus mail 32816-0150. The hours of operation are 8:00 am until 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday except of UCF official holidays. The telephone numbers are (407) 882-2276 and (407) 823-2901