Univ of Iowa Faculty Senate Passes Resolution on Scholarly Publishing
The UI Faculty Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution that would help reduce scholarly journal costs for university libraries.
The resolution encourages faculty members to publish in lower-cost journals and asks the university to privilege them in the tenure and promotion process.
“We’re the people who keep these journals alive,” both by submitting research and purchasing them, said Faculty Senate President Richard Leblond.
The clinical professor of internal medicine said high journal costs are an issue facing universities around the country, and though he feels the resolution has “no teeth” - making its actual effect uncertain - it could help faculty become more aware of their role in the process.
Senate Vice President Sheldon Kurtz, a UI law professor, said that because faculty members are required to publish their research to gain tenure, universities are actually paying for the research twice.
“For us, the tension is that universities as a whole are being asked to buy back the research,” he said.
In other business, Leblond announced the formation of a task force to examine ways to improve communications among the faculty, staff, and student senates.
The committee would create an “office of shared governance” to find ways to help the three groups meet more frequently, such as moving their offices to a common location.
Doing so, Leblond said, would help the groups’ leadership discuss common issues, such as salaries and tuition. The current system is inefficient, he said.
“We have to figure out ways we can come to the best balance,” he said. “These things shouldn’t be decided at the legislative level. We ought to sit down and talk to one another.”
Leblond said he hopes to start the process in the next few months.
The text of the Resolution:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~facsen/Agenda/Senate05-06/11-29-05/2-LibrariesResolution.htm
[by Sam Edsill, The Daily Iowan, Nov 30, 2005]
