IFLA ARL Satellite conference 2023: Inclusiveness through Openness Presentation on Regional Impact Studies: "Identifying Opportunities to Support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Faculty in Open Access" by Tatiana Bryant (US), Barnard College and Camille Thomas (US), Florida State University. Satellite conference held at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 18 - 19 August 2023.

1. Classification:Internal
Identifying Opportunities to Support
Black, Indigenous, and People of
Color Faculty in Open Access
Camille Thomas & Tatiana Bryant
IFLA Inclusiveness through Openness 2023

2. Classification:Internal
#OABIPOC Research Team
Tatiana Bryant (she/her/hers)
@bibliotecariat
Director of Teaching, Learning, & Research Services
Barnard College
Camille Thomas (she/her/hers)
@afrofuturistlib
Scholarly Communication Librarian
Florida State University

3. Classification:Internal
Previous Studies
● BIPOC faculty often not granted promotion and tenure
in academia
● General studies of faculty perceptions, only vary by
region and discipline
● Awareness increased over time since 90s/00s, but
practices had not

4. Classification:Internal
Study Design

5. Classification:Internal
#OABIPOC Study Research Questions
1. What are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color)
faculty’s level of awareness of Open Access?
2. What are their motivations for publishing Open Access?
3. What experiences, positive or negative, have they had with
Open Access?
4. What is their institutional and disciplinary support or
culture like?

6. Classification:Internal
Spring
2020
Recruitment
Prescreening
survey via
listservs and
social media
Data
Collection
36
interviewees
Across eight
90 minute
focus groups
Summer
2020
Data Analysis
Transcripts
coded and
compared
with concepts
and literature
Fall 2020
Dissemination
ACRL 2021
SCN 2021
C&RL 2023
QQML 2023
Spring
2021+
Research Design

7. Classification:Internal
Methodology
● Exploratory study drawing on larger themes
● Not generalizable
● Grounded Theory
● Objective was to look holistically at lived experiences
and perceptions
○ Center marginalized people
○ Avoid assumptions about their experiences and
responses
Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. M. (1997). Grounded theory in practice. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory : A practicalguide through qualitative analysis. London: Sage Publications.

8. Classification:Internal
Limitations
● We wanted a larger STEM population in our sample
● We wanted a larger international population in our
sample
● We failed to ask explicitly about specific
microaggressionsand discrimination faced already in
their department, campus, or discipline

9. Classification:Internal
Study Results

10. Classification:Internal
Demographics: Identity

11. Classification:Internal
Demographics: Institution Type & Faculty
Status

12. Classification:Internal
Results: Themes and Subthemes
● Introduction to OA in grad school, digital humanities,
special issues of publications
● Motivation to support their Research Communities
(study subjects, colleagues, practitioners, students)
○ Social justice mission (institution or discipline level)
and messaging

13. Classification:Internal
Quote on Open Access as Social Justice
1. “I study issues of HealthEquity race based rests in trauma and
I would say that there coming from the perspective of like a
Open Access is a social justice issue...part of the [researcher’s
university] mission is to create and communicate and applying
knowledge to a world shared by all people and held in trust for
future generations” -pre-tenure psychology faculty at a small
private college or university

14. Classification:Internal
Quotes on Community
“...Open Access publications can help us in terms of, like, dissemination of
information to the communities that we do study…” - sociology faculty at large
research university
…”I did publish with [a] Journal that comes out of the University of Ghana and so
I want to be in conversation with Africans on the continent doing this work…That
international conversation that I wanted to have that was the reason I did it.” -
english pre-tenure faculty at a small public college or university

15. Classification:Internal
Results: Themes and Subthemes
● Contingent Labor and Additional Risk of not receiving
Promotion and Tenure
○ post - docs and resources
● Higher visibility (in peer review even when blinded)
● Not Included in collaborative networks to receive grant
funding

16. Classification:Internal
BIPOC OA compared to General Studies
● B
● BIPOC OA
○ Social justice
mission
○ Connect to
communities
○ Identified
biases
○ Value other
outputs
● General
○ Altruism
(“Information
just wants to be
free”)
○ Inherent
democratization
○ Connection to
colleagues

17. Classification:Internal
BIPOC OA compared to General Studies
● BIPOC OA
○ Compounded
risk for BIPOC
faculty
○ BIPOC occupy
more contingent
labor
○ Concerns about
lack of network,
resources
○ Concerns
about P&T
○ Concerns
about Cost
● General
○ Risk for early
career
researchers
○ Concerns
about rigor
and quality

18. Classification:Internal
Applications

19. Classification:Internal
Potential Applications
1. New models for funders to support marginalized scholars
2. Signaling from administrators
3. Incentive programs
4. Aligning promotion and tenure with open access

20. Classification:Internal
Institutional Outreach and Support
Open Research Funders Group
Open & Equitable Model Funding Program
The ORFG oversees the Open & Equitable Model Funding Program,a coalition of 11 funders exploring
specific interventions to make both the processes ofgrantmaking and the resulting research outputs more
transparent,inclusive,and trustworthy. Visit Open & Equitable Model Funding Program site.
Open scholarship seed awards
ORFG has developed a $100,000 seed award fund to stimulate open scholarship activities at Minority-
Serving Institutions (MSI) in the United States and academic institutions in countries and territories eligible
to receive official developmentassistance.
The purpose ofthis program is twofold. First and foremost,we aspire to stimulate open scholarship
engagementwithin networks thathave traditionallyfaced barriers to participation. Additionally, we seek to
test a theory of change for advancing open scholarship.The ORFG posits thatsmall,timely,strategic
investments supporting bounded projects,activities,events,etc., can have a significantand lasting impact
on open scholarship engagementfor the awardees and their networks. We further hypothesize that these
awards will stimulate a culture of open scholarship atthe institutional level.

21. Classification:Internal
Institutional Outreach and Support
Scholarly Communications Notebook
https://oercommons.org/hubs/SCN
Assignments were specifically created for developing strategic initiatives and outreach
to support marginalized scholars.
Learning Objectives
● To understand diverse needs of researchers and scholars based on their
positionality and intersectionality (student, post-doc,research topics,discipline
and departmental culture, identities)
● To identify when encouraging open may harm researchers or communities
● To develop messaging that highlights social justice through open access’
benefits of transparency, access and non-traditional formats
● To develop strategic initiatives that address the unique needs of an institution
and its surrounding community
● To develop advocacy, leadership and management skills by planning, executing
and assessing strategic initiatives

22. Classification:Internal
International Lense

23. Classification:Internal
Global Connections
● Opportunities:
○ Funders creating new models
○ Endorsements from professional organizations
○ Social Justice missions
○ Digital Humanities
○ Interoperable infrastructure
○ support of outputs beyond the article
○ Community cost sharing models

24. Classification:Internal
Global Connections
● Challenges:
○ Concerns about predatory publishing and xenophobic
biases
○ Contextual differences with implementing open access
○ Devaluation of free resources due to capitalism and
individualism
○ Article Processing Charges

25. Classification:Internal
Lessons Learned
● Plan for a longer timeline
● Future Areas for Research:
○ STEM BIPOC faculty
● Gor re-consent for a data paper, but would need
another 50% of participants

26. Classification:Internal
Thank you!
Questions?