University Events Promote Open Access Week 2015

Former Coordinator, Marketing and Public Relations
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OhioLINK
Wednesday, October 21, 2015 - 4:30pm (updated Thursday, October 22, 2015 - 8:55am)
Open Access Week - October 19th to 25th

As a consortium of 120 academic libraries along with the State Library of Ohio, it’s fantastic to hear and read about all the events happening throughout Ohio to promote Open Access Week (October 19-25). Open Access Week, recognized globally eight years ago, promotes the movement of making scholarly research widely available and freely accessible around the world.

This movement doesn’t just focus on students, faculty and staff; regardless of affiliation with an institution, open access would allow everyone, everywhere to have un-restricted access to research. While most published content is less accessible due to subscription fees or pay-to-download requirements, Open Access Week is one way researchers and libraries are seeking to encourage discussion and awareness about this new option for publishing and accessing research. In fact, four of our OhioLINK members came up with some really clever ideas to celebrate this movement, which was created to help promote wider access to scholarly content.

 

UD OA Week Table Tent
UD's Table Tent for OA Week
  1. If there’s one sure-fire way to get someone’s attention, hand them a cookie, right? That’s exactly what the University of Dayton (UD) Libraries is doing to promote Open Access Week. UD Libraries partnered with graduate academic affairs to pass out special open access cookies (sugar cookies with the orange "unlocked" logo). The cookies will be handed out prior to graduate courses in Engineering, Education and Business at information tables with Open Access information. The school is also passing out eCommons bookmarks to promote access to the UD digital archive of the research, creative works and institutional history. UD also published a blog on the ability to “Publish in an Open Access Journal.”
UD Bookmark Front
UD Bookmark

 

  1. Miami University is seeking to promote access to research through enhancements to its Scholarly Commons. Because Open Access Week is about more than just events, with the larger goal being on increased access to scholarly content, Miami is focusing its efforts toward increased access for the academic and research community. Learn more about the enhancements in the recent announcement.

 

  1. Several events are taking place at The Ohio State University this week to enhance the understanding and discussions surrounding open access. The OSU Libraries is hosting a Discussion Forum on Open Access Publishing: Potentials and Pitfalls, as well as a Lunch & Learn about the Creative Commons. Check out more in the library blog about Open Access Week.

 

  1. In the same effort to increase discussions and awareness about open access (OA), the College of Wooster Libraries are hosting two separate conversations, which will cover everything from terminology and OA publishing to the future of open access.

 

Not only do our members promote open access, but OhioLINK’s Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Center is also an open access resource. The ETD Center consists of over 55,000 theses and dissertations uploaded by 30 Ohio institutions. Even more exciting is looking at the number of countries visiting this scholarly resource, totaling over 170 in the last month alone. The ETD Center supports access to research in a shared venue open to anyone looking for sources. OhioLINK also hosts the ETD Council, which worked collaboratively to create a poster to promote Open Access Week and the ETD Center (you can download your own version of the poster here).

Whether you get involved with Open Access Week by organizing your own event, engaging in another’s event, or using the week to learn more about it, participating is a great way to connect with like-minded individuals and help advance the understanding of this issue from a local to a global level.