Kathleen Shearer joins ARL as partnership consultant

ARL has appointed Kathleen Shearer as a partnership consultant.

Shearer’s work for ARL will include developing a 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 Canadian perspective to the ARL team and will facilitate greater synergies among related initiatives around the world.

Shearer is part-time executive director of COAR, the Confederation of Open Access Repositories, an international organisation 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.

Larry Alford, ARL vice president/president-elect and chief librarian at University of Toronto, said: 'We are delighted that Kathleen Shearer has agreed to consult for ARL. Her experience working both in Canada and internationally will be invaluable to ARL in strengthening the Association’s collaborations worldwide.'