Open educational resources and library & information science: towards a common framework for methodological approaches and technical solutions

Openness, flexibility, innovative approaches, digital dimension, liquidity and high granularity characterize Open Educational Resources (OERs), which therefore are grey literature par excellence. OERs possess these features to a much greater extent than does the Open Science (OS) galaxy, because the manifold constellation of education is broader and much more multifaceted and transversal than the scientific and scholarly community, that is still, for the most part, Polanyi's and Merton's autonomous Republic of Science. Indeed, the peculiarities of Library and Information Science (LIS) sector and of its latest developments contribute to increase complexity of scenarios. In fact, Library Science and Documentation, with their influential legacy, and Information Sciences through digital revolution have radically evolved, moving towards extreme scientific specialization and growing professionalization. LIS competences on one side have become transversal and essential skills in the current knowledge societies; on the other side, they have widely spread out over all the scientific-disciplinary sectors, merging with various knowledge and specific domains and fertilizing their different segments. This unprecedented hybridization process has entailed a partial loss of LIS identity, stressing fluidity and versatility inherent in OERs; hence it has highlighted the need for guaranteeing quality, integrity, authenticity, consistency and traceability of OERs in the LIS field, in the same way as for the OS within the scholarly information and communication system. In this paper we propose a comprehensive framework, which provides methodological, organizational, strategic, technical and technological indications in order to address the problems and new challenges described above. The model suggests criteria, methods and tools to analyze the specific context and to identify solutions able to manage appropriately information resources and the related processes and to increase their value: processes regarding both resource lifecycle management and framework configuration control. Technical and technological solutions are also examined, in order to manage more efficiently considerable heterogeneous sets of OERs in the LIS field. With regard to technological systems and tools, special attention is paid to the opportunity to develop validated and certified platforms, for providing quality levels in shared contexts, and persistent identification systems, for guaranteeing resources integrity, traceability, etc. In our view, the suggested framework and tools can contribute to the development of systems more equipped to support and enhance the management of OERs in the LIS domain.