From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 23 Jul 2017 20:23:30 -0400

Probably many of us have heard for years of the worthy organization
called Oxfam, which describes itself thus:   "Oxfam is a global
movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty.
With 70 years of experience in more than 90 countries, Oxfam takes on
the big issues that keep people poor: inequality, discrimination, and
unequal access to resources including food, water, and land. We help
people save lives in disasters, build stronger futures for themselves,
and hold the powerful accountable."

Oxfam does good and important work.

But last week I attended the Research For Life (R4L) General Partners
Meeting, where I ran into Emily Gillingham, who formerly managed
library programs for Wiley in the UK.  Emily's heart has always been
with the needs of developing countries, and she is now Publications
Director for Oxfam.  Before we spoke, I hadn't realized that Oxfam has
a substantial program, offering as many as 4,000 publications at this
time.  See:  https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/
 She had several on display and they were impressive and important in
their covered fields.  Who knew... maybe others but not I.

Emily told us that the Oxfam publications are all available online,
freely, and that a huge challenge is to make potential readers
aware of these; we spoke particularly about academic institutions,
where economists, policy makers, area studies people, and many others
would find much value.  She thinks their reach is far too small.

The question behind Oxfam's particular awareness needs can be more
broadly generalized:  If an organization produces materials of high
value, available for free, how does that organization reach out to
many potentially interested parties and make those materials known.
Assume please that the marketing budget is slim to none.

What to do?  We spoke about getting Oxfam publications included into
discovery services, assuming such services would be willing to include
-- but what else can 5,000 list readers offer for for this excellent
organization -- and any others like it?  This is a concern for big and
small OA publishers.

Thank you for your thoughts.  Ann Okerson/CRL