The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has brought Kathleen Shearer on board as a partnership consultant, effective November 6, 2014. Shearer's work for ARL will include developing an ARL policy on partnerships and collaborations, establishing and nurturing relationships internationally, and updating ARL on global trends in research data management and scholarly communication. Based in Montréal, Québec, and professionally active internationally, Shearer brings a much-needed Canadian perspective to the ARL team and will facilitate greater synergies among related initiatives around the world.
Shearer is the part-time executive director of COAR, the Confederation of Open Access Repositories, an international organization aiming to align repository networks globally. ARL and the SHARE initiative are working through COAR to maintain an ongoing dialogue with similar large-scale endeavours. Shearer is also coordinating a project led by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) to develop a national research data management network, Portage. Additionally, she is the co-chair of two Research Data Alliance groups—Long Tail of Research Data and Libraries for Research Data—which are developing best practices and promoting the role of institutions in research data management.
Shearer will continue to serve in all of these capacities while consulting for ARL.
