Scout (Emilia) Bell

Open access politics of vulnerability, symbolic capital, and care - Emilia C. Bell This blog post serves as an exploratory and developmental process for my PhD. Its focus is on the academic literature I engage with, presented in a blog format, against the backdrop of professional co...

Blog post 📑 Open access politics of vulnerability, symbolic capital, and care www.emiliabell.com/2026/02/27/o...

"Openness was being tied to the participation of those affected ... not just in name, but in who might be included and how knowledge production would be governed."

A light calcio cat lying on a person who is wearing a tan shirt and sitting on a couch. The cat has green eyes and her head is resting softly on the person's arm.

A light calcio cat lying on a person who is wearing a tan shirt and sitting on a couch. The cat has green eyes and is sitting up with head staring up at her human.

Snuggly Sundays with Missy keeping me company while I work on grants and PhD things.

A screenshot from a blog post with the text: "i imagine I'll continue to find and experience joy in complex and unexpected ways in 2026. And I love that I'm not the only one thinking about it." An embedded screenshot of a message is below this and reads: “absolutely! and i immediately thought of you when i read ‘joy’ as well”.

Last week, a colleague messaged me to share a study about Autistic joy. Alongside feeling very seen, it also gave me a theme for 2026.

So, I've written about what that means for me: www.emiliabell.com/2026/01/13/t...

(shared with permission)

Building and governing for access in disruption: Open publishing, disability culture, and library leadership - Emilia C. Bell This blog post serves as an exploratory and developmental process for my PhD. Its focus is on the academic literature I engage with, presented in a blog format, against the backdrop of professional co...

'Building and governing for access in disruption: Open publishing, disability culture, and library leadership'

An end of year exploration and reflection on the parallels between the values in disability culture, OA / scholarly publishing, and leadership. www.emiliabell.com/2025/12/30/b...

A white person wearing large over-ear headphones and a light-colored, vertically striped button-up shirt, standing outdoors on a sunny day. The background features lush green foliage and a tree with twisted branches, creating a natural, shaded setting. They have short dark hair and are grinning.

It's day 1260 of part-time PhD-ing! I'm finishing the year with a 'writing-to-think' type blog post that bridges several concepts, touching on institutional trust, access brokering, and knowledge diffusion - in the context of libraries.
www.emiliabell.com/2025/12/11/l...

A tiny bird's nest with three tiny white eggs in it. The nest is attached to a thin branch on a bush with oval shaped green leaves.

WFH discovery today.

Slide titled "Research Assessment: from narrow to inclusive evaluation" - in two parts, one has a narrow lamp only illuminating the word 'citations' the other has an 'inclusive lens' with other words, like pedagogy career preparation, sponsorship etc

DIVERSITY of assessment and reforming evaluation being discussed at @unesco.org "Open Science: From the UNESCO Recommendation to Reality in Asia and the Pacific - Session 1” An excellent slide

"What does it mean to be values-based? On process and visibility." www.emiliabell.com/2025/10/24/w...

"When relational conditions exist, my disabilities and neurodivergence become visible. That visibility isn't a failure, but is evidence of the processes at work around me."

📝Jumping back into writing: 'What happens when strengths-based leadership becomes strategic neglect?' Some reflections on how strengths-based approaches can become avoidance mechanisms cloaked in progressive language if they don't acknowledge barriers.
www.emiliabell.com/2025/09/07/w...

A fluffy calico cat lies on its back on a dark grey couch, eyes closed in contentment. A person's hand gently sits on top of the cat's head. The cat’s fur is slightly tousled, with patches of orange and black on its body and tail.

Research and reviews for me. Naps and zero cares for Missy.

Beyond provocation: Reimagining systems through care, critique, and community - Emilia C. Bell Keynote at ANZREG Conference 11th June 2025 Slides | Recording [when available] Licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY-4.0), except for any content quoted from ...

I had the pleasure of giving a keynote for the ANZREG conference earlier this week titled 'Beyond provocation: Reimagining systems through care, critique, and community.'

🔗 Talk and slides: www.emiliabell.com/2025/06/13/b...

Submission Instructions Submission Types RAILS 2025 is a face-to-face conference held over three days. It also incorporates the Australasian Information Educators’ Symposium (AIES) 2025, a Doctoral Consortium, and keynote…

Call for papers!
RAILS, the main gathering in Australasia for researchers, practitioners and educators in information studies and related disciplines, will be face to face in Sydney this year and you have until 18 May to get your submission in railsconference.wordpress.com/submission-i...

Librarian, Research Support Job in Murdoch, Perth WA - SEEK Help develop and deliver library research support services relating to scholarly communication

Passionate about library research support? Come join Murdoch University Library as a Research Support Librarian! This role works closely with our Research Support Coordinator as part of a wonderfully inclusive and impactful team.

🔗 www.seek.com.au/job/84016436
Applications close 5 June 2025.

A calico cat is peering around a laptop to look at the checklist on a whiteboard.

Missy a calico cat is daintily lying on the carpet near a window in the sun. There is white lacy curtains flowing around her.

I've once again resorted to a checklist over my usual 'everything is fine; things stick in my brain easily' approach. Missy (our second cat) is jumping between monitoring my checklist for compliance and taking naps in the sun ☀️

#PhDSky #PhDLife #CatsofBlueSky

Book cover for Publishing beyond the market: open access, care, and the commons

The nice people at University of Michigan Press have sent over a code you can use to pre-order my new book with 30% off. Out in September.

press.umich.edu/content/down...

Are you, or do you know, someone new to the library sector? If so - submissions are open to NLS XI! while anyone can submit, there’s a strong focus on people newer to the sector looking for an early (or first) conference presentation in supportive environment - www.alia.org.au/Web/Web/Even...

Tracking the Use of Open Educational Resources Sounds Simple. It Isn’t. We set out to determine whether open monographs were being used in teaching and learning and fell down a very deep hole. Here is what we learned.

@dannykay68.bsky.social, Kay Steel (Federation University), Richard White (University of Otago) and I did some investigative work on #OER usage. Danny presented at #LARK2024 and #OEGlobal24, and the final piece is here - katinamagazine.org/content/arti...

Call for Contributions Library and Information Research: Reflecting on the Past, Shaping the Future RAILS, the premier Australasian research conference on Research Applications in Information and Library Studies, is the …

In Sydney 3-5 November 2025. Abstract submissions close 18 May. Full paper for peer review to be considered for publication in a special issue of the Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association (JALIA) in 2026. railsconference.wordpress.com/call-for-con...

A tabby cat named Ciabatta sitting on a grey couch. Her green eyes are alert, paws together, and there is a window behind her. Ciabatta has a soft look on her face, looking at something beyond the camera.

Weekend research company (Ciabatta, our cat). I started with papers on libraries and schol comm, landed on museums and trust, and I've ended with reading on trustworthiness and institutional theory and a mild headache. Ciabatta has spent most of her time napping...

#PhDSky #PhDLife

And good luck with your piece, too!

I found it a really positive experience. Great editorial support along the way to ensure the writing was accessible to this audience. And there were plenty of check ins during the editing process to discuss changes/edits before publishing.

Thanks, Clare!

Academic publishing is a multibillion-dollar industry. It’s not always good for science

Some academic publishers have been accused by scientists of being “too greedy” and prioritising profit over research integrity.

Academic publishing is a multibillion-dollar industry. It’s not always good for science Some academic publishers have been accused by scientists of being “too greedy” and prioritising profit over research integrity.

I have my first piece in The Conversation today, co-authored with Lucy Montgomery and Karl Huang. We look at the increasing frequency of editorial board resignations and the tension between for-profit publishing and research integrity.

theconversation.com/academic-pub...

Living Things Are Not Machines (Also, They Totally Are) | NOEMA Our formal models of life, computers and materials fail to tell the entire story of their capabilities and limitations.

@drmichaellevin.bsky.social looks at the metaphors we use to distinguish b/w organic and non-organic beings and challenges assumptions around what we consider to be machines and/or living things.

#cybernetics #systems #StrangeLoop #ConsequentialCategories

www.noemamag.com/living-thing...

Thank you, Kim. I'm really glad you found the framing valuable. Your JLSC paper is on my reading list for this month. I was excited to see it.

A new article from my PhD research in JLSC: 'Open knowledge through soft power, diplomacy, and the library: A theoretical analysis and critique.' doi.org/10.31274/jls...

#ScholComms #OpenResearch #OpenScholarship #OpenKnowledgeDiplomacy

Cover of book Open Education Down Under

Open Education DownUndOER:
Great collection of case studies showcasing #OpenEducationalPractice
#OpenTextBooks
#OpenAccess
#OpenPedagogy
Thanks @ashthelibrarian.bsky.social and CAUL team

A young calico cat named Missy is standing on a black work desk. There is a monitor and stationary behind her.

New desk buddy, Missy, is settling in and enjoying webinars on schol comm, data privacy, AI, and publishing today.

Western Australian beach in the evening. The sun is setting outside of the photo frame leaving a rusty golden tint to the image. There is a pathway leading down to the beach with shrubs on either side. The ocean is calm against the long stretch of sand.

Three things I'm reading/watching: www.emiliabell.com/2025/03/01/s...

From my reading list of late: a lecture on AI ethics, a paper on theorising in management studies, and a preprint on neurodivergent research students.

The beach photo is from yesterday evening - a small escape from screens.