UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Open Access Week, a global event now in its 10th year, is returning to Penn State University Libraries locations with events available University-wide, including panel discussions, faculty talks, film screenings, helpful handouts and more. The events are free and open to all Penn State faculty, staff and students, and aim to increase affordable, discoverable and equitable access to Penn State’s open-access (OA) initiatives.
“Open Access Week 2018: Designing Equitable Foundations for Open Knowledge,” the global theme, takes place Oct. 22-25 at Penn State in various locations around Pattee Library and Paterno Library on the University Park campus. Most events also are available for live remote viewing online via login at Mediasite Live, found at live.libraries.psu.edu.
In addition to scheduled events, trained Open Access liaisons University-wide at University Libraries locations will be working to raise awareness of OA topics during the week by sharing information with faculty, staff and students, directing questions to the OA Task Force or sharing resources as appropriate, and helping to promote events planned as part of Open Access Week.
The Libraries’ schedule of events is as follows:
Monday, Oct. 22: Open Access
- 8:30 to 10 a.m — Coffee, snacks and handouts to kick off OA Week, Franklin Atrium, first floor Pattee Library
- 10 a.m. to noon — Welcome from Dean Barbara Dewey, followed by an overview of Open Access movement and a Global Equity and Access panel, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, and broadcast on MediaSite Live
- 1 to 2:30 p.m. — Screening of documentary film “Paywall: The Business of Scholarship,” (2018) Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
Tuesday, Oct. 23: Open Publishing
- 10 to 11:30 a.m. — Screening of documentary film “Paywall: The Business of Scholarship,” (2018) Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
- 1 to 2:30 p.m. — Overview of Libraries Open Publishing Program, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, and broadcast on MediaSite Live.
Wednesday, Oct. 24: Open Source and Open Data
- 1 to 2 p.m.— Overview of Open Research and Introduction of Digital Scholarship and Data Services Department, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library
- 2 to 4 p.m. — ScholarSphere Upload Party with pizza for participants. Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library, and broadcast on MediaSite Live.
Thursday, Oct. 25: Open Educational Resources
- 10 a.m. to noon — Overview of Open Educational Resources and Affordable Course Transformation (ACT) Panel, Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, and broadcast on MediaSite Live.
Open access initiatives remove the price barriers of the traditional academic publishing model, creating a model that makes scholarly works freely available and eliminating the cost associated with obtaining and using them. Other open initiatives, such as open educational resources and open publishing models, also work to reduce permission barriers, allowing users to copy, redistribute, and adapt the works.
Open at Penn State is an online portal that encompasses Open Access, Open Educational Resources, University Libraries Open Publishing, Open Research and Open Data, Open Source software and ScholarSphere, Penn State’s open repository. The University Libraries and its partners across Penn State collaborate to reduce barriers to the sharing, access, and use of knowledge and information to drive innovation, engage students, enable affordable access to education, and generate equal opportunities for all.
Made possible by the Internet and the consent of the author or copyright holder, open access literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. Radically changing the distribution of peer-reviewed journal literature, open access offers free and unrestricted access by all scientists, scholars, teachers, students and other lifelong learners.
For more information about Open Access Week events, or if you anticipate needing accessibility accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, visit open.psu.edu or email open@psu.edu.