| University Libraries
Whether we're scrolling social media or using specialized databases, we are encountering information from different sources all the time. Libraries are concerned with organizing and making findable information from various outlets. This image illustrates the relationship between scholarly communication and science communication as two interconnected spheres.
Scholarly communication occurs within the scientific community and includes research activities such as publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals, presenting papers and posters at conferences, writing grant and research proposals, and sharing findings through other technical formats. It is researcher-to-researcher communication.
Science communication, on the other hand, involves sharing the sharing and interpretation of that research with the broader public. Journalists, educators, policy makers, businesses, and individuals encounter, interpret, and share research, and sometimes the original research takes on a different meaning in the public sphere. Science communication emphasizes accessibility, dialogue, and public engagement.
Illustration credit: Lotta W Tomasson/VA CC BY-NC 2.0
Libraries use detailed metadata and classification systems to connect scholarly work with broader science communication materials, facilitating both expert and general user access to collections.
Libraries collect, catalog, and provide access to peer-reviewed journals, academic books, and databases tailored to support scholarly communication. We contract with vendors to provide access to these resources, with some vendors providing subject or genre specific products, and other vendors providing a broad mix of products.
Think of the different video streaming services: Amazon Prime Video contracts with a broad range of production companies and provides access, for a fee, to the contracted content. Max (HBO), on the other hand and also for a fee, provides access to content specifically created by HBO. These are two examples of contracted access to content that most of us encounter in our daily lives.
Libraries also collect popular fiction, popular science books, news articles, educational materials, and open-access content that translate research for non-specialist audiences. We contract with different vendors to provide access to these broadly approachable materials.