Libraries Host Events During Open Access Week, October 18 - 22
Libraries at UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) will be involved in Open Access Week, a worldwide event now in its fourth year to give the academic and research community an opportunity to learn more about the potential benefits of offering free and timely access to scholarly publications.
“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 needed – has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted.
Open Access is entirely compatible with the peer review process and has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for society as a whole to learn and benefit from the plethora of published literature.
Open Access—a global movement that gained momentum with the advent of the digital age—encourages scholars and scientists to share what they’ve learned with colleagues and to help inspire wider participation to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research.
This year, Open Access Week is being kicked off and championed by two international researchers, UCSF Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, now director of the National Cancer Institute, and Cameron Neylon, a senior scientist at the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, biochemist, and author of the widely read “Science in the Open” blog.
Varmus has been an unparalleled leader in promoting Open Access in several ways, from introducing the topic of wider access and launching PubMed Central to increase public access to the literature, to helping to found the Public Library of Science, one of the world’s leading open-access publishers. To hear Varmus, Neylon and other scholars talk about Open Access, view the video here. Note that Varmus begins his remarks after seven minutes.
Maximizing Research Investments
The focus of Open Access literature is to remove the access barriers and make it free to read and use. Open Access literature is not free to produce, but the business model is different from access-restricted, subscription publications.
Open Access has the potential to maximize research investments, increase the exposure and use of published research, facilitate the ability to conduct research across available literature, and enhance the overall advancement of scholarship.
Research funding agencies, academic institutions, researchers and scientists, teachers, students, and members of the general public are supporting a move towards Open Access in increasing numbers every year. Open Access Week is a key opportunity for all members of the community to take action to keep this momentum moving forward.
Learning More About Open Access
The UCSF library and SFGH library are hosting events this week to provide more information about Open Access and what options are available to the UCSF community. Those who stop by the information tables will be able to ask questions and learn about Open Access. Representatives from the libraries will be giving out free cookies, buttons, T‐shirts, and more.
The Open Access information tables will be set up at these dates and locations:
- Tuesday, October 19, noon – 1 p.m., Saunders Court, Parnassus
- Wednesday, October 20, noon – 1 p.m., Genentech Hall Lobby, Mission Bay
- Thursday, October 21, 1 – 2 p.m., Room 505, Building 3, SFGH
For more information, go to:
UCSF Library’s Scholarly Publication site
UC Libaries’ Reshaping Scholarly Communication
Open Access Week Challenge from Dr. Philip Bourne of UC Santa Barbara