OCLC Research publishes new report on open content activities in university libraries
A new report from OCLC Research, Open Content Activities in Libraries: Same Direction, Different Trajectories—Findings from the 2018 OCLC Global Council Survey, offers a view into the breadth of current open content activities by research and university libraries globally and insight about their future directions.
This report is the culmination of efforts from across the OCLC membership to answer the question: “What is the status of open access and open content in libraries across the globe?” An open content survey was conducted in 2018–2019 by the OCLC Global Council in partnership with staff from OCLC Research. The survey’s broad definition of library open content activities and global scope offers a new perspective within the library community, uncovering the maturity and versatility of these activities.
Among the findings in this report:
- Survey respondents from 69 countries are highly involved in open content activities (97%), and the overwhelming majority are stepping up their activities and planning new ones.
- Overall, the figures suggest a future increase in involvement of 10–18% across all open content activities.
- Future growth areas that indicate likely new emerging services are the management of open research data and interactions with digitized open collections through statistical and machine learning techniques.
Read the report at https://oc.lc/opencontent-report