ER&L 2014

keynote, Fister

Knowledge is open-ended and networked by its very nature. Libraries have traditionally been local nodes in that network, places where people can join the network, where learning is inquiring, not just acquiring. Yet the fluid, connected nature of knowledge runs counter to the current economic framework in which knowledge is given to publishers to be transformed into property, then returned to the network through a complex system of metered payments. Libraries have worked hard to keep knowledge free at the local level through negotiating licenses, implementing software to manage all the locks and combinations, and designing user interfaces that make the locks as invisible as possible. If we joined our knowhow and our fundamental values, we could collectively play a leadership role in developing a new and open network that is, like knowledge itself, open to change.

Barbara Fister has coordinated instruction at the Gustavus Adolphus College library in St. Peter, Minnesota, for over 25 years, but is still learning how to help students (and faculty) learn. She has studied students’ research processes, examined the relationship between writing and research, and teaches an upper division course on how information works. She has written widely on open access to scholarship and is interested in the future of publishing of all kinds. You can follow Barbara’s generalist tendencies on Twitter (@bfister) and through Library Journal’s Peer to Peer Review or the Library Babel Fish blog at Inside Higher Ed. Photo courtesy of Mark Coggins.

Opening Keynote session sponsored by SCELC, Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium

Special ER&L Event