This SPEC Kit discusses successful, as well as unsuccessful, strategies used by research libraries to inform faculty about scholarly communication issues. It is not about getting through the next budget cycle, not about any specific cancellation project, though these loom large in the everyday lives of libraries. It is about making fundamental systemic changes in the scholarly communication process, a beleaguered process that belongs to the entire scholarly communication community. To solve the chronic problems, faculty must be actively involved. They must understand that the problems are their problems, which they must solve through their actions and their behavioral changes.
Libraries can provide advice and information, but ultimately the faculty hold the key.
In their faculty education programs, ARL libraries are moving away from passivity and reaction toward engagement and advocacy. The signs of change are abundant. Scholarly communication librarians are being assigned to coordinate faculty education programs. Faculty senates are passing resolutions asking faculty to alter their behavior related to intellectual property and peer review. Educational efforts are being managed by the faculty, in partnership with the library.