In celebration of International Open Access Week, Oct. 25-31, University Libraries is offering a variety of drop-in informational sessions and workshops on the workings and benefits of Open Access. The celebration includes a new webpage, where users can explore resources that support Open Access for the university community.

“Open Access” refers to the free online availability of scholarly research, coupled with the rights to use it fully in the digital environment. Open Access Week is an annual event that promotes understanding of Open Access, with the aim of making it a new norm in scholarship and research. This year’s theme is It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.

Open Access Week has its roots in a national day of action that took place in 2007 and was organized across the United States by Students for Free Culture and the Alliance for Taxpayer Access. In the past, University Libraries collaborated with graduate student groups to host Open Access Week events.

“Open Access is an important publishing option that can have many benefits to the Nebraska community, including the provision of equal access to information, research data, and the inclusion of diverse voices,” said Charlene Maxey-Harris, associate dean of libraries and interim chair of discovery and resource management.

University Libraries is actively increasing Open Access options for campus authors, by signing onto pilot agreements with publishers like Cambridge University Press and PLOS via the Big Ten Academic Alliance, which cover the costs associated with publishing Open Access articles.

The goal of the website and the drop-in sessions is to gather, in one location, the Libraries’ Open Access resources to help inform, educate, and support efforts on campus. There are two workshops for which registration is required, and four drop-in sessions.

Drop-In Sessions: Open Access Publishing Agreements with Cambridge University Press and PLoS — University authors can now publish their research articles Open Access in Cambridge University Press journals, PLoS Biology, and PLoS Medicine without worrying about the cost! Bring your questions to this drop-in session with UNL librarians Casey Hoeve, Sue Gardner and David Macaulay. Sessions are noon to 1 p.m, Oct. 25, and Oct. 28. Click each day for Zoom access.

Open Science Drop-In Sessions — Have questions about Open Access publishing, open data, or Open Education Resources in STEM? Drop in to discuss how OA can contribute to research impact, how OER are created and maintained, and more. Both drop-in sessions hosted by Kiyomi Deards, science librarian. Sessions are 12:30 to 2 p.m. Oct. 26 and 5 to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 28. Click each date for Zoom access.

Preparing for Sharing Your Research: Publishing and Copyright — Join Sue Gardner, scholarly communications librarian, and Paul Royster, coordinator of scholarly communications and a 40-year publishing veteran, to learn the ins and outs of publishing. Topics include where to publish or distribute your work, how to navigate publishing agreements, and how to maintain your authors’ rights. The session is noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 27. Click the date for Zoom access.

Introduction to Open Educational Resources — One of the benefits to using open educational resources (OER) is to ensure that learning materials are available and accessible to all students from day one of your course. In this session, participants will explore the benefits of adapting or adopting OER into courses, work through how to differentiate OER from other “free” or “affordable” resources and explore strategies for finding and evaluating OER relevant to disciplines. The session is 10 to 11 a.m. Oct. 28. Click the date for Zoom access.