Scholarly communications conference supports UMaine faculty, grad students
A group of 40 University of Maine faculty and graduate students gathered at Raymond H. Fogler Library over winter break to attend a half-day conference dedicated to discussing emerging trends in scholarly communications.
ScholComm 2018 attendees participated in workshops that introduced them to new tools in academic publishing and advanced methods for tracking the effect of their publications.
Organized by Fogler Library, ScholComm was developed in response to feedback from faculty and students.
“After teaching several workshops on scholarly communication, it became clear that there was a need for, and interest in, further information, tools and discussion regarding the evolution of scholarly publishing,” says Jen Bonnet, social sciences and humanities librarian at Fogler Library.
ScholComm featured workshops on topics such as open-access publishing, alternative methods to track and convey scholarly impact and how to self-archive work in UMaine’s institutional repository.
“I attended ScholComm because I recognize the importance of reaching beyond the traditional academic audience to share the important work we’re doing as scholars,” says Susan Gardner, director of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Rising Tide Center at UMaine. “I learned so much about different ways to see one’s impact and share one’s work beyond a typical academic journal. It was an invaluable experience and I highly recommend it to others.”
The focus on evolving trends made ScholComm valuable for established scholars as well as graduate students who are relatively new to publishing.
With the success of ScholComm, Bonnet sees a growing demand for education and discussion about topics in scholarly communication. She sees workshops, trainings and conferences like ScholComm as an opportunity to help scholars expand the reach of their work.