As part of CAUL’s Professional Learning Service, we provide communities of practice to support Members and their staff in professional learning and knowledge sharing related to key topics.
A community of practice is a ‘group of people who share a common concern, a set of problems, or interest in a topic and who come together to fulfil both individual and group goals’. It is a learning community that convenes via an email list and meets regularly to discuss topics of interest to members.
CAUL has two types of communities of practice:
- Open communities are open to all staff members at CAUL Member institutions who are interested in the community’s focus.
- Designated role communities are networks of Member institution staff in similar roles or at similar levels who engage in professional learning, collegial support, networking and knowledge sharing.
Open communities of practice
AI in Academic Libraries Community of Practice
This CoP is for staff in CAUL member institutions across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand who are sitting in the “AI meets library practice” zone. That might be collections and discovery, teaching and learning, research support, digital infrastructure, governance, or capability building. If AI is already brushing up against your day-to-day work, this is your crowd.
Learn more about the AI in Academic Libraries Community of Practice.
Australian Scholarly Communications Community of Practice
The Australian Scholarly Communications Community of Practice is an initiative of Open Access Australasia, CAUL and Creative Commons Australia. It focuses on scholarly communication, including innovative approaches, open access, and open science more broadly, especially related to regional developments.
Learn more about the Australian Scholarly Communications Community of Practice on the Open Access Australasia website.
The Australian Scholarly Communications Community of Practice has two sub-groups:
Collections Analysis Community of Practice
The Library Collections Analysis Community of Practice provides a forum for its members to share data analysis strategies and best practice in evaluating the performance of library collections.
Learn more about the Collections Analysis Community of Practice.
User Experience (UX) Community of Practice
The Library User Experience (UX) Community of Practice provides a forum for CAUL Member institution staff to engage in collegial professional learning and information sharing related to professional UX practice that supports systemic user-centred decision-making across library functions.
Learn more about the User Experience (UX) Community of Practice.
Value and Impact Community of Practice
The Library Value and Impact Community of Practice promotes good practice and builds capability in planning, performance, evaluation, and measurement across various library activities.
Learn more about the Value and Impact Community of Practice.
Open Access Agreements Management Community of Practice
The Transformative Agreements Implementation Community of Practice provides a forum for CAUL Member institution staff to engage in collegial professional learning and information sharing related to implementing and managing transformative agreements.
Learn more about the Open Access Agreements Management Community of Practice.
Designated role communities of practice
Content Coordinators Community of Practice
The Content Coordinators Community of Practice (CoP) has been established to provide CAUL Content Coordinators’ peer support, information sharing, collaboration, and a means to stay informed about developments with publishers and agreements. This is particularly important for smaller institutions where a single staff member may be responsible for acquisitions.
Membership is open to all CAUL Procurement Content Coordinators, a delegated role within each consortium participating institution. Membership is also open to additional procurement and acquisitions staff who either have, or will have, direct involvement in consortial agreement management at an institutional level. Such membership can only be granted at the invitation of the CAUL Content Coordinator at each institution.
Learn more about the Content Coordinators Community of Practice.
Deputy University Librarians Network
The Deputy University Librarians Network provides a forum for Member institution staff in senior leadership positions to engage in collegial professional learning, knowledge and information sharing, and networking activities.
Membership is open to deputy university librarians, who are the senior leaders who report directly to and deputise for the university librarian or equivalent. These tend to be Director or Associate Director level roles.
Learn more about the Deputy University Librarians Network.
Learning and Teaching Leaders Community of Practice
The Library Learning and Teaching Leaders Community of Practice provides a forum for CAUL Member institution staff in management and leadership level roles to engage in collegial professional learning and information sharing related to library learning and teaching.
Membership is open to two staff members from each CAUL Member institution. Members hold management or leadership roles related to learning and teaching.
Learn more about the Learning and Teaching Leaders Community of Practice.