University Events Promote Open Access Week 2019

Many OhioLINK institutions are promoting and hosting events for the 12^th annual Open Access Week (October 21-25), an international week that focuses on resources that are freely available to anyone online. This year’s theme,  “Open for Whom? Equity in Open Knowledge”, allows participants to showcase their efforts and the benefits of Open Access resources.  Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resources (OER) help make education more affordable for students in Ohio as well as around the world.

At OhioLINK, the OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) Center is Open Access. The more than 100,000 ETDs submitted by 34 member institutions are available for anyone in the world to view and download. The OhioLINK ETD Center is open for everyone, sharing Ohio’s scholarship worldwide. With over 85 million total downloads and visits from 231 different countries, OhioLINK ETDs and their novel Ohio research are a valued OA resource worldwide. The OhioLINK ETD Council also created a flyer for OA Week to promote the benefits of our ETD Center.

Here are some of the different OA events and promotions around Ohio at OhioLINK member institutions:

• Cleveland State University’s Michael Schwartz Library hosts several events and workshops during OA Week. Here is just a sample:
  • Do you have an ORCID research number yet, or have questions about using it? Visit the Reference Center during Open Access week to register for an ORCID account and receive your own persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher. An expert Reference Librarian or Consultant can help you register in minutes!
  • Free Books. No Catch. Visit the Information Table for OpenStax information, to review sample books, and ask the expert, Ben Richards on Wednesday from 11:30-12:30.
  • Do you have questions about how the library can support scholarly communications? Learn what EngagedScholarship @ Cleveland State University can do for you including publishing journals or books; posting articles; creating your own Scholars Page; learning about copyright; managing conferences or ongoing meetings, and more on Wednesday from 3:00-4:00.
  • The library also has an information table all week long, so be sure to drop by and chat about OA whenever it’s convenient.
    • Visit their webpage for a complete OA Week 2019 schedule of events for even more sessions on a variety of OA topics.

• Ohio University offers OA workshops, a Twitter Chat, and a movie showing:
  • Open Access Workshops on October 21, 2:30–4:30 p.m. at the Alden Library 251 and October 22, 6:00–8:00 p.m. at the Athens Public Library
  • Ohio University and Athens Public Libraries will demonstrate a variety of openly available digital information, including archival and local history resources, OERs, and the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  • Twitter Chat: #OHIOaffordable on October 23, 2:00–3:00 p.m.
    • Join the Ohio University community on Twitter to find out what you can do for affordable learning. The Office of Instructional Innovation, in collaboration with the University Libraries and the Office of Informational Technology, will spark conversations about OHIO’s path to affordable learning course materials. Follow @OHIOinstr_innov and #OHIOaffordable for updates.
  • Movie showing: Paywall: The Business of Scholarship on October 25, 2:00–4:00 p.m., Alden Library 319
    • This film dives into the need for open access to research and science, questions the rationale behind the $25.2 billion a year that flows into for-profit academic publishers, examines the 35–40 percent profit margin associated with the top academic publisher Elsevier, and looks at how that profit margin is often greater than some of the most profitable tech companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google.
    • Visit their website for more information, including about the workshops and the movie showing (at the bottom of the page).

• The Ohio State University is hosting two panels:
  • The first panel Supporting Open Access Monograph Publishing: TOME @ Ohio State on October 22, 1:00-3:00 p.m. will feature OSU faculty members whose scholarly monographs have been funded as part of TOME
  • Another panel The Changing Landscape of Scholarly Publishing on October 24, 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. with a mix of panelists will cover topics about scholarly publishing and its changes.
    • Register at their websites and to learn more about the TOME panel and the NEW panel.

Take this week to learn about, celebrate, and use OA resources, knowing that they are open for everyone, everywhere so take advantage and encourage others to as well.