Associate Dean for Collections & Scholarly Communication
J. Williard Marriott Library, University of Utah
"Thinking Critically about Openness: What Problem(s) Are We Trying to Solve?"
Abstract: The term “open” has come to have such a halo around it that it can be tempting to think of “open” as a synonym for “good.” But open solutions, whether in the context of access, data, or systems, are like any other solutions: they offer a mixture of pros and cons and of costs and benefits, which means that they solve some problems while creating others. Before adopting openness as a model for the future, there are certain questions that a society would be wise to ask itself and to carefully answer.
Bio: Rick Anderson is Associate Dean for Collections & Scholarly Communication in the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah. He has worked previously as a bibliographer for YBP, Inc., as Head Acquisitions Librarian for the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and as Director of Resource Acquisition at the University of Nevada, Reno. He serves on numerous editorial and advisory boards and is a regular contributor to the Scholarly Kitchen. He has served as president of the North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG), and is a recipient of the HARRASSOWITZ Leadership in Library Acquisitions Award. In 2015 he was elected President of the Society for Scholarly Publishing, and his latest book, Scholarly Communication: What Everyone Needs to Know, will be published this spring by Oxford University Press.