Open Research Steering Committee

The Open Research Steering Committee was retired in August 2023 and replaced by the Open Research and Scholarship Affinity Group. 

For questions, please contact Meghan Testerman, Open Research and Scholarship Librarian at mtesterman@princeton.edu

Charge

The Open Research Steering Committee (ORSC) exists to coordinate, develop, and encourage use of resources and services that support open research and scholarship with an overall goal to position PUL at the forefront of support for open research practices by academic libraries. In support of this goal, the ORSC will work with partners from multiple departments within PUL, including Research Data and Open Scholarship (RDOS), Scholarly Collections and Research Services (SCRS), Information Technology, Imaging, and Metadata Services (ITIMS), and Special Collections (SC):

• Develop and coordinate an outreach campaign to promote new and existing open research tools and practices
• Develop and maintain a website that provides information and support for open research and scholarship, including a calendar of events, resource map, tools and services available, and contact information for library staff with specific open research expertise 
• Coordinate and offer workshops and other training events related to research transparency, open science principles, and reproducibility, and maintain a calendar of open research-related events
• Coordinate with partners within PUL and across campus to develop and support new services that meet researchers’ needs
• Identify core competencies for staff engaged in open research support
• Coordinate exploration of new tools that support open research
• Report on the changing open research landscape and monitor open research practices at Princeton University through assessment and research activities 

In AY 2022-2023, the ORSC will focus on:

• Develop and coordinate an outreach campaign to promote new and existing open research tools and practices
• Identify and cultivate core competencies for staff engaged in open research support

Membership

There are no term limits, but membership may be reviewed at any time and must be reviewed as part of the annual charge review. The ORSC will have two co-chairs, one from RDOS and one from another PUL department. The group will strive to stay as small as possible while maintaining needed expertise and may establish shorter-term working groups to accomplish specific tasks that include additional members.

LSC Champion: Wind Cowles

Membership (AY 22-23):

Communication Channels for Members. The following channels will be used for internal communication of the ORSC: Slack channel, Google Shared Drive for documents.

Meeting and Project Schedule. The working group will meet monthly with the possibility of sub-groups or project teams meeting bi-monthly.

Agendas, Notes, and Working Documents. All meetings must have an agenda or be canceled, and notes should be finalized within a week. Note-taking will rotate; agendas, notes, and any other working documents will be created and maintained in the group’s shared Google Drive folder. Minutes will be archived in PUL Connecting or in Confluence as is appropriate.

Reports. ORSC will provide an update to the Library Strategy Council each summer. This report may be circulated to the entire staff as appropriate.

Charge Review. This document and the membership will be reviewed on an annual basis coinciding with the acceptance of this charge.

Anticipated Resources Needed.  The planned activities and outputs of the ORSC will need modest support that may largely be drawn from existing expertise within the group but may also need occasional support from within PUL. Anticipated needs include website support, marketing, space for workshops and events, funding for food at events, and funding for research support tools.