For the sixth year in a row, libraries are celebrating Open Access Week, being held October 22-28. Open Access Week is an opportunity to discuss the importance of free global access to articles and scholarly research.
Open access to information - the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need - has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted. It has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry and society as a whole.
In celebration of Open Access Week, Carrie Cooper, William & Mary's dean of university libraries, will be presenting "Scholarly Communication and Open Access" on Wednesday, Oct. 24. She will be discussing scholarly communication issues and why open access is emerging as an alternative to traditional publishing. The session will be held at 11 a.m. in Swem Library's Ford Classroom.
In addition, Swem Library staff will be participating in a webinar on Oct. 24 to learn about copyright clauses, publication contracts and other issues that impact the success of open access.
To learn more about open access, read Harvard's Pete Suber and Stuart Scheiber's newly released Good practices for University Open Access Policies or visit www.openaccessweek.org.
Or, listen to Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk as he explains the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system
Swem has started an online collection of Open Education Resources. Have you been involved in an Open Access project? We want to hear your story! Contact us at kmdelaurenti@wm.edu