California Digital Library Announces New Appointment

NISO Member News

CDLInfo Blog | September 20, 2021

The California Digital Library posted the following announcement to their CDLInfo blog: 

We could not be more delighted to announce that Mark Lawrence Clemente will be joining CDL as our new Open Access Publisher Agreements Manager.   In this role Mark will be responsible for initiating, developing, and coordinating the implementation and assessment of open access publisher agreements across a broad spectrum of publishing partners in support of UC’s transformative open access initiatives, ensuring that these agreements are effectively designed, managed, and integrated into library and publisher workflows.  

Mark is coming to us from Case Western Reserve University, where he has been the Scholarly Communication and Copyright Librarian. In this role, he served as the libraries’ primary strategist, consultant, and educator in promoting open and equitable access to scholarship, and he worked with library colleagues to develop scholarly communication, copyright, and licensing programs designed to enable the broadest possible access to and use of the libraries’ collections.  He planned and implemented a collaborative, cross-departmental initiative to build a comprehensive licensing review and negotiation program, which was informed by current and emerging standards — including CDL’s Model License and UC’s statements on journal negotiations.   Prior to working at Case, Mark was the Scholarly Communications and Licensing librarian at the MIT Libraries.

Mark says that he is “thrilled by the chance to bring my skills and background in scholarly communication, open access, and publisher agreements to serve CDL’s strategic visions of openness and equity, which are aligned with my own values.”   

At Case, Mark also served on the campus libraries’ Diversity Working Group, where he co-drafted a diversity plan that specifically addressed the libraries’ role in advancing diversity and equity in the scholarly publishing landscape, and he worked on campus-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as well.  Mark’s contributions in advancing DEI at Case Western were recognized by being awarded the 2021 Staff Diversity Excellence Award.

We are thrilled to have someone with Mark’s breadth of relevant experience and commitment to UC’s open access aims joining CDL.   Mark’s first day at CDL is September 27th.