12 July 2024
UKSG Conference report – Zoe Wynette, The Company of Biologists
I arrived in Glasgow on Sunday and after checking in to the hotel headed straight for the first-time attendee’s event. I felt this was the great start to the conference for me as it gave me an opportunity to meet those who were in the same boat in a more relaxed setting. Many of the friendly faces I met, I saw regularly and caught up with throughout the conference.
Monday
Plenary Session 1
The first session jumped straight in with a range of talks focused on research integrity. I found it interesting to learn about the efforts being made to make sure that there are guidelines surrounding research. It made sense that there needs to be more integrity on research, however, I did find the number of retractions happening each year surprising and that more work needed to be done here.
Breakout Session A: How to manage a successful Open Access service in addition to the demands of a primary role
Attending sessions being held by librarians was quite high on my list as I wanted to hear their point of view when it came to Open Access. Although perhaps aimed more at librarians, this session gave me the opportunity to hear from those that work with our products daily. I was surprised to hear that lots of librarians are doing multiple roles when it comes to these agreements.
Breakout Session B: Do we need a 5% Manifesto for REF 2028? / ORCID and trust: a two-way conversation
I jumped between two sessions here. I chose to attend the session on REF 2028 to try and find out more about what it is and how it affects publishers, however, I didn’t feel I learnt much from this session and after a short overview, the speakers opened the floor to discussion from the librarians.
I then jumped into the session on ORCID, again to find out about what it is and who uses it. It did seem to be more aimed at librarians, but I did feel I left with a general overview about ORCID and how they work with both publishers and institutes.
Breakout Session C: Open infrastructure and standards: small bodies, big impact
I’d come across all three of these groups in my role and felt that this talk gave a bitesize view of each and the important work they do for the industry. I was also introduced to the ITHAKA report which I have put on my ‘to read’ list to learn more about standards and how we can improve this.
Lightning Talks Session 1
Hearing that librarians are working to create guidelines to help make open research easier for researchers to achieve made me think about what we as publishers could do and how we could help? Is this predominately a librarian issue or can publishers contribute to these guidelines?
It was interesting to hear what a small press was doing to address issues in the publishing world. I wasn’t aware of what the UN SDG Publisher compact was before this event and have since added it to my to do list to find out more about it and if we as a company are doing something about it?
Quiz Night
The quiz held on Monday night made me realise that my general knowledge is not up to par, however the highlight was winning a wooden spoon, which is now sitting on my desk at work.
Tuesday
Plenary 2
There was a lot of data thrown around at the start of this session. I found it interesting to learn that research is being done on transitional agreements, where the data is coming from and how it’s being assessed. If I wasn’t attending the breakout session on the JISC report, I feel the mini session on the report would have been a good overview. I learnt a lot more about Green OA and why there is still a need for it.
This librarian talk spoke about how they work with subscriptions daily with a wonderful example of a spreadsheet that cross-teams could access. I was pleased to hear that they thought that open access would solve a lot of problems, which indicated to me that both sides, publishers and librarians are all working towards a common goal.
Lightening Talks Session 2
A very tech-heavy collection of quick talks. I learnt about different systems and how universities were using them as part of their workflows. I’d come across GetFTR in a recent meeting, so I was excited to learn about how it worked. It seemed relatively easy to understand and something which could benefit both the libraries and their students/researchers and in turn publishers, with the evidence of more views to articles.
Plenary 3
I was aware that this session would not really be for me but found it interesting none-the-less. I was shocked to hear that there are some journal websites that are no longer in use by the publisher, which are now being used to prey on academics and researchers who want to publish their research.
Breakout Session B: Demystifying AI and evaluating future uses and limits in library collections
Siobhan provided so much information in this session. I found it a great introduction to AI and felt she gave good examples on how librarians could use AI in their work. I appreciated that she made it clear that there are dos and don’ts when it comes to AI i.e., is the data secure, but also encouraged us to experiment with AI – but with caution! I left the session asking myself how I could use AI in my administrative role.
Breakout Session D: A critical review of transitional agreements in the UK: why, how, what and where next?
I was pleased that this was also a breakout session. Being new to the industry and working for a publishing company where transitional agreements are regularly mentioned, I was excited to learn more. It was fascinating to learn about all the information that JISC used to create this report and where it came from and the answers it provided. I was shocked to hear how little had been done and the predication that it would take ‘70 years to fully flip’.
Gala Night
I thought the venue was a great choice for the disco and I enjoyed having a mooch around and the opportunity to chat with other attendees in a more relaxed setting.
Wednesday
Plenary Session 4: (did not attend)
I chose to miss these sessions as I wasn’t sure if they were aimed predominately at librarians and what I would get out of them, so I decided to head to the exhibitor’s hall which gave me a chance to do a bit of market research.
Breakout Session C: Looking at the cliff’s edge: the end of block grant funding for R&P deals.
I liked how each session I attended from the point of view of the librarian was different. This session focused more on what librarians look for when deciding on new or renewing deals, which I found interesting to enable me to understand a little better on what librarians are looking for when we approach them with our journal list. I learnt about block grant funding and who are providing this funding, which is something I’ve not come across.
Breakout Session D: What next for sustainable open scholarship? The Cambridge University Press transformation and beyond.
Chris’s talk felt very much like a call to action. He provided interesting information what Cambridge was doing to change the journal publishing model and how it was working for them. I felt it provided a good example that other publishers could take notes from.
Plenary 5: (did not attend)
I missed the final plenary of the conference as I headed off early to catch my train and travel the 6+ hours home.
General comments:
I admit, I spent the first few hours of the conference feeling slightly overwhelmed. There was lots to do, lots going on and a lot of people. I found that everyone I spoke to was friendly and those I messaged on the app were happy to connect. I left with lots of information from the conference and I enjoyed having the opportunity to hear from the librarians’ point of view when it came to Open Access and transitional agreements. It was wonderful that there were social events organised as it gave me a chance to talk to different people in a different context. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed attending the UKSG conference and feel lucky to have the opportunity to do so.