Sep 15, 2026
Today’s episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Ulrich Herb, Head, Publication and Research Support, Saarland University Library.
Ulrich has been based for over 20 years at Saarland University. He talks with Michael about being born and raised in Saarland (the smallest federal state in Germany), and growing up in a village directly at the River Saar, the frontier between France and Germany with a unique and turbulent history. His father was an untrained steel worker, and Ulrich says he was always interested in social mobility, barriers in social mobility, obstacles, social justice, prestige norms and in social conflicts. So, his first degree was in sociology. However, he did his PhD in information science, not in sociology, after a conflict with a trade union and a conversation with a professor for information science. He then began working in the university library on a third party funded project on electronic scientific information. Ulrich also talks about what he likes about the University of Saarland, his current role supporting publications and Open Access coordination, and he describes in detail how attitudes to open access have changed since the Budapest Declaration in 2002.
The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/gXewnMvZd20
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/
Keywords: #SaarlandUniversity #Sociology #SocialJustice #SocialHistory #OpenAccess #OpenScience #LibraryScience #InformationScience #HigherEd #InformationProfessionals #AcademicLibraries #FutureOfLibraries #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #PublishingIssues #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts