It’s easy to overlook open access issues when you’re attending or working at a major research institution. Because of library subscriptions, you have access to most of the information you need. Once you graduate, however, the information is a little more difficult to gather. Whether you need access to information to do your job, or for personal reasons, Open Access is the answer.
In this video, Barbara Stebbins talks about the importance of having access to current scientific research in order to provide her middle school students with the best education.
Barbara Stebbins, Middle School Science Teacher from Open Access Videos on Vimeo.
Here, Sharon Terry talks about how open access helps patients gain access to the information they need to learn about and understand health conditions.
Sharon Terry, Patient Advocate from Open Access Videos on Vimeo.
Open Access Week builds on the momentum started by the student-led national day of action in 2007 and carried by the 120 campuses in 27 countries that celebrated Open Access Day in 2008. 2008 organizers SPARC(the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition), the PLoS (The Public Library of Science), and Students for FreeCulture welcome new key contributors for 2009: OASIS (the Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook); Open Access Directory (OAD); and eIFL.net (Electronic Information for Libraries), which will again spearhead events in developing and transitional countries.
The ASU Libraries are celebrating Open Access Week through exhibits at both Hayden and Noble Libraries on the Tempe campus. We were also excited to have three ASU faculty join us for a podcast to discuss open access issues and projects here at ASU!
For more information about Open Access, check out our Scholarly Communication LibGuide.
Stay tuned to the Library Channel this week for more Open Access Week videos!
- Monday: Welcome to Open Access Week!
- Tuesday - Open Access Week Continues
- Wednesday - Open Access for Students
2 Comments
Does this mean that as a recent graduate of ASU and a writer who depends upon access to scholarly journals and online reference materials, that ASU Libraries are now able and willing to extend online access to its Community borrowers?
Thank you.
That’s a great question, Vicky. Unfortunately, most of the resources we license require us to restrict access to current ASU faculty, staff and students. As long as we must depend on these providers for access to information, we will have to abide by their restrictions. The power really lies in the hands of researchers and faculty to retain the right to provide open access to the articles they write and publish. Until this shift happens on a larger scale, the ASU libraries are limited in what we can do while fulfilling our mission to support teaching, learning, and research at ASU.