Against the Grain - The Podcast

Annual Reviews
  • 4.0 (4)
  • EDUCATION
  • UPDATED DAILY

Against the Grain is your key to the latest news about libraries, publishers, book jobbers, and subscription agents. Our goal is to link publishers, vendors, and librarians by reporting on the issues, literature, and people that impact the world of books and journals.

  1. ATGthePodcast 308 - A Conversation with Stevan Harnad, Professor of Cognitive Science, University of South Hampton

    4D AGO

    ATGthePodcast 308 - A Conversation with Stevan Harnad, Professor of Cognitive Science, University of South Hampton

    Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Stevan Harnad, Professor of Cognitive Science, University of South Hampton. Stevan is one of the most prominent advocates for open access and a distinguished scholar in cognitive science. In 1978, he founded the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences which pioneered "open peer commentary", a form of public discussion on published content. In this conversation, Stevan looks back on over 50 years of campaigning for, and implementing tools for, open access.  Stevan invented a term for internet-based discourse, which he called "scholarly skywriting" in 1987. But, his most famous intervention was the 1994 "Subversive Proposal", the call for peer-reviewed papers to be made openly available on the Internet so that everyone could access them – which became green Open Access. He also talks about why in 2026, the mechanism set up in the early 2000s still has not delivered what he had hoped for.  Lastly, Stevan talks about GenAI tools and says he is very positive about their ability to "brainstorm." The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/bD5w9BTZx0M LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevan-harnad-82863216/ Twitter: Keyword #OpenAccess #Research #ResearchAccessibility #GreenOpenAccess #OpenPeerCommentary #PeerReview #CognitiveScience #BehavioralAndBrainSciences #KnowledgeEquity #KnowledgeForAll #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

    1h 6m
  2. ATGthePodcast 307 - A Conversation with Rupert Gatti and Alessandra Tosi, Co-Founders, Open Book Publishers

    6D AGO

    ATGthePodcast 307 - A Conversation with Rupert Gatti and Alessandra Tosi, Co-Founders, Open Book Publishers

    Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Rupert Gatti and Alessandra Tosi, Co-Founders, Open Book Publishers. Alessandra, a literary historian specializing in Russia, and Rupert, an economist, both Cambridge based scholars, founded the biggest independent open access academic book publisher in the UK, Open Book Publishers, in 2008.  In this conversation, Alessandra talks with Michael about frustrations over the limited reach of her own scholarly monographs, and many scholars being excluded in the humanities in Russia over the high cost of scholarly works and high book processing charges with traditional commercial publishers. This is why they founded the open access, non-profit academic press, following the diamond open access model, to service both authors and readers and make research in the humanities and social sciences freely available worldwide.  Rupert says open access is not an end in itself, but part of a larger commitment to open scholarship and knowledge equity.     Video of this interview: https://youtu.be/luA6BaJGDhA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupert-gatti-113b3620/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessandra-tosi-50321020/   Twitter: Keyword #OpenBookPublishers #OpenScholarship #SocialSciences #Humanities #Research #ResearchAccessibility #OpenAccess #DiamondOpenAccess #KnowledgeEquity #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

    54 min
  3. A Conversation with Paul Rosenzweig, Principal, Red Branch Consulting and a Lecturer at George Washington University

    FEB 12

    A Conversation with Paul Rosenzweig, Principal, Red Branch Consulting and a Lecturer at George Washington University

    The following interview is part of the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. In this series, we sit down with leaders and innovators who are making a real difference in scholarly publishing, libraries, and the broader information world. Each conversation is a chance to hear firsthand how these decision makers tackle new challenges, rethink traditional models, and collaborate across sectors. Today's episode features the next conversation from the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series.  Heather Staines Senior Consultant, Delta Think, and a Conference Director, talks with Paul Rosenzweig, Principal, Red Branch Consulting and a Lecturer at George Washington University. Paul has had what could be called a "zigzaggy" career, but it all came full circle. He started out as a chemist with a master's in chemical oceanography and expected he would be a senior oceanographer examining the world by now.  However, due to difficulty obtaining government funding, and the job being not as interesting as he had hoped, he decided to change paths and follow in his father's footsteps. Paul started law school with the idea of focusing on environmental law to tie into his oceanography background. But, instead, he ended up in the environmental crime section at the Department of Justice where he found that he liked the criminal law side a lot more than the environmental side.   He talks about the disruption of 9-11 and losing friends and, as a result, transitioning from criminal law to Homeland Security criminal law and doing cybersecurity work for the Department of Homeland Security. Things came full circle here for Paul as he now leaned on the early computer programming and large-scale data basing he had done as an oceanographer. When the cybersecurity crisis hit the government, Paul was early on the scene. In 2009, he left this position and started his consulting company and began teaching at George Washington University part-time as an adjunct. One of his clients is the American Library Association. The video of this interview can be found here:  https://youtu.be/aek77eVR18I Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherstaines/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-rosenzweig Keywords: #LeoLo #CharlestonConference #AgainstTheGrain #AnnualReviews #LeadershipInLibraries #InnovationInLibraries #TeamWork #Team #ConferenceEvolution #LibraryCommunity #Librarianship #ProfessionalDevelopment #LibrarianJourney #LibraryEducation #InformationAccess #LibraryCommunity #libraries #librarians #libraryCareer #librarySchool #LibraryLove #academic #AcademicPublishing #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication  #learning #learnon #information #leaders #leadership #2024ChsConf ##career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

    31 min
  4. A Conversation with Leo Lo, Dean of Libraries and Advisor for AI Literacy at the University of Virginia

    FEB 2

    A Conversation with Leo Lo, Dean of Libraries and Advisor for AI Literacy at the University of Virginia

    The following interview is part of the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. In this series, we sit down with leaders and innovators who are making a real difference in scholarly publishing, libraries, and the broader information world. Each conversation is a chance to hear firsthand how these decision makers tackle new challenges, rethink traditional models, and collaborate across sectors. Today's episode features the next conversation from the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series.  Erin Gallagher, Chair, Acquisitions & Discovery Services at the University of Florida, and a Conference Director, talks with Leo Lo, Dean of Libraries and Advisor for AI Literacy at the University of Virginia. Leo shares that he has a film degree and originally wanted to be a film scholar and film preservationist and didn't realize that librarianship could be a career until he discovered it by accident when searching for a graduate program in film preservation. One of his professors suggested that he look into the library science programs for preservation specialization. Leo says he became interested immediately, as it was an exciting time when the internet was exploding and changing everything, including librarianship.  He earned his MLIS at Florida State University. He says librarianship is the intersection between honoring the past and shaping the future. In this conversation, Leo gives an employer's perspective as to some steps future librarians could take to better prepare for a landscape where AI is really going to play a large and evolving role. He talks with Erin about his unique role as Dean of Libraries but also being appointed as advisor to the provost for AI literacy, the value for librarians in joining organizations like ALA and ACRL and his experience the first time he used ChatGPT. The video of this interview can be found here:  https://youtu.be/zbv2c4xT9hk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-gallagher-39a2b211/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/leoslo/ Keywords: #LeoLo #CharlestonConference #AgainstTheGrain #AnnualReviews #LeadershipInLibraries #InnovationInLibraries #TeamWork #Team #ConferenceEvolution #LibraryCommunity #Librarianship #ProfessionalDevelopment #LibrarianJourney #LibraryEducation #InformationAccess #LibraryCommunity #libraries #librarians #libraryCareer #librarySchool #LibraryLove #academic #AcademicPublishing #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication  #learning #learnon #information #leaders #leadership #2024ChsConf ##career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

    32 min
  5. A Conversation with Paolo Manghi, CTO, OpenAIRE, and Researcher, Italian National Research Council

    JAN 27

    A Conversation with Paolo Manghi, CTO, OpenAIRE, and Researcher, Italian National Research Council

    Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Paolo Manghi, CTO, OpenAIRE, and Researcher, Italian National Research Council. Paolo is a prominent figure in European Research Infrastructures. In this conversation, he talks about his career path, first earning a degree in information science in Pisa, then a degree in science and technology, and then a PhD in research on data and databases before working with data infrastructures and joining CNR, a pioneer in the field of technical innovation and scientific advancements and who he says coined many famous terminologies used in the industry today.  Paolo talks about dividing his time between being a researcher and working at the worldwide open scholarly communication infrastructure OpenAire which he describes as being more than a technical platform, that provides a trusted forum for policymakers, funders, institutions, and researchers to share data and shape open science together. The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/gNwuzvT-Qb0 Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolo-manghi-880a54/   Twitter: Keywords: #CNR #OpenAIRE #Science #OpenScience #OpenInfrastructure #OpenAccess #Research #OpenResearch #ResearchIntegrity #ResearchTransparency #ResearchPublishing #ResearchInfrastructures #ScientificPublishing #Metadata #MetaResearch #PeerReview #DigitalTransformation #ResearchCulture #PublishingTechnology #Discovery #LibraryTechnology #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

    57 min
  6. ATGthePodcast 303 - A Conversation with Gregory Laynor, PhD, Director, NYU Meta-Research Collaborative and Systemic Review Librarian, NYU Health Science Library

    JAN 25

    ATGthePodcast 303 - A Conversation with Gregory Laynor, PhD, Director, NYU Meta-Research Collaborative and Systemic Review Librarian, NYU Health Science Library

    Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Gregory Laynor, PhD, Director, Meta-Research Collaborative and Systemic Review Librarian, NYU Health Science Library. In this conversation, Gregory discusses founding the Meta Research Collaborative, which aims to improve transparency, impact and research practices across disciplines. He also discusses his work in meta-research, or research on research, and says he is cautious in using Generative AI in research due to concerns over bias, rigor and reproducibility amid an AI mediated research landscape, and he believes that the library's future is shifting and now lies more in helping people interpret, evaluate, and synthesize information, and helping provide AI literacy, than in being repositories. The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/nVxUojjh64k Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-laynor/ Keywords: #Science #OpenScience #Research #OpenResearch #ResearchIntegrity #ResearchTransparency #ResearchPublishing #Metadata #MetaResearch #GenAI #AILiteracy #SystematicReviews #DigitalTransformation #ResearchIntegrity #ResearchCulture #ScientificPublishing #HealthSciences #PublishingTechnology #Discovery #LibraryTechnology #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

    1h 4m
  7. A Conversation with Andrew Smeall, VP, Product Innovation, Sage

    JAN 12

    A Conversation with Andrew Smeall, VP, Product Innovation, Sage

    Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Andrew Smeall, VP, Product Innovation at Sage. Andrew is a leader in digital scholarly publishing. He began his career in publishing, and became interested in media and technology, while working at the Center on US-China Relations, which he describes as a "think tank" that produces research on US-China environmental relations and US-China economic relations, where he worked to organize research projects, make their white papers more interesting  and to make that research more discoverable using WordPress sites or flash sites.  He joined Hindawi while working towards his MBA, where he learned about open access and led the redevelopment of its publishing platform, eventually becoming Chief Digital Officer.  Now at Sage, he builds technology strategy for their research business and journals business, helping to decide what platforms to build and which to buy, whether to develop a technology in house or work with a vendor who supplies it, and deciding how best to provide these needed services to researchers.  In this conversation, Andrew also delves into some challenges facing current publishing models and provides some interesting viewpoints.  The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/oCXaZSwAU9U LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/smeall/ Keywords: #Science #OpenScience #Research #ResearchWorkflow #OpenResearch #ResearchPublishing #Metadata #DigitalTransformation #ResearchIntegrity #ResearchCulture #ScientificPublishing #HumanitiesPublishing #PublishingTechnology #Discovery #LibraryTechnology #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

    37 min
  8. A Conversation with Michele Frison, Postdoctoral Research Assistant, MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge

    JAN 6

    A Conversation with Michele Frison, Postdoctoral Research Assistant, MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge

    Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Michele Frison, Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge. Michele is originally from Italy and completed his PhD at UCL in England with a focus on cell biology. He defines himself as a cell biologist and biochemist, and much of his current research specializes in cell and mitochondrial biology, aging and disease.  The Mitochondrial Biology Unit is part of a larger infrastructure that runs clinical trials for rare diseases. Michele says the process is very slow, taking up to a decade or so, but that he has been fortunate enough to have made a recent discovery that could well lead to clinical trial: the protein target that he's worked with is actually a target for drugs that have already passed phase one clinical trials and are now passing phase two for Parkinson's disease. If the research he has done in models replicates in humans, then it could well lead to a drug for diseases that affect one in 8,000 humans. Michele also talks about the disconnect between the public understanding of science and scientific practice, research culture and competition, open science and the review process, and the vast amount of literature that scientists have to keep up with, as well as his views on the use of AI and social media in his field. The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/ri_djNwi1jw Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkfrison92/ Twitter: Keywords: #UniversityOfCambridge #MBU #LifeSciences #OpenScience #BiomedicalResearch #Research #OpenResearch #ResearchCulture #CellBiology #MitochondrialBiology #PostDoc #ScientificPublishing #PeerReview #LibraryTechnology #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

    55 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Against the Grain is your key to the latest news about libraries, publishers, book jobbers, and subscription agents. Our goal is to link publishers, vendors, and librarians by reporting on the issues, literature, and people that impact the world of books and journals.

Information

  • Creator
    Annual Reviews
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    306
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2016-2026 Annual Reviews
  • Show Website
    Against the Grain - The Podcast