Open Access: OA Week

Open Access Week 2021: October 25-29

Since 2012, Virginia Tech's University Libraries have explored open access with talks, panel discussions, and workshops to help faculty and students understand open access and the support for it that the library provides.  Please join us!

All of our events this year will be hosted via Zoom. Please find registration information for each event below.

Open Access and Evidence Synthesis

Monday October 25, 2:00pm - 3:30pm  |   Register for PDN credit

This session will begin with a discussion on how open access supports several aspects of the evidence synthesis process. We’ll explore the value of having open access sources to include in the synthesis itself and some challenges that must be overcome when searching and accessing sources that require institutional access or are fee-based. We will also address ways to utilize open access repositories (such as VTechWorks and Open Science Framework) to make your synthesis more transparent so that others can properly evaluate, replicate, or use your synthesis. Additionally, we will hear cases from folks who have used open access resources or repositories as a means to support their evidence synthesis projects.

Open Access Forum 2021: Virginia Tech's New Open Access Policy + Intros to Open Data and Open Educational Resources

Monday October 25, 6:00pm - 8:00pm  |   Webinar link TBA

This year's Open Access Forum will feature a presentation on Virginia Tech's new open access policy with a Q&A afterward with OA expert Peter Suber and members of the working group.  Short introductions to open data and open educational resources will follow.  Featured speakers include:

• Philip Young, Scholarly Communication, University Libraries
• Peter Suber, Office of Scholarly Communication, Harvard University
• Jon Petters, Data Services, University Libraries
• Kayla McNabb, Head, Instructional Content & Design, University Libraries

How to Take Advantage of the University’s New Open Access Policy

Tuesday October 26, 3:00pm - 4:00pm |  Register for PDN credit

All Virginia Tech affiliated researchers now have the right to provide open access to the accepted version of scholarly articles in the university's repository, VTechWorks, regardless of their copyright transfer agreement, as the result of a faculty-led effort approved by the Board of Visitors in spring 2021.  This session helps researchers understand and utilize the policy, including version preparation, ways to deposit (Elements, Google Form, and email), waiving the license, delaying access if desired, as well as related issues such as open licensing and repository indexing and usage.  Open access to peer reviewed research is vital to scholars in low and middle income countries, government policymakers, non-governmental organizations, taxpayers, and our own alumni.  Authors benefit through greater readership, downloads, and citations.  Open access to research helps realize Virginia Tech's global land grant mission.  This session is open to all faculty, staff, and students.

$150,000 Available to Publish Journal Articles

Wednesday October 27, 3:00pm - 4:00pm |   Register for PDN credit

Learn from the Open Access Subvention Fund (OASF) manager how to get the library to pay the
article processing charges (APCs) when your article is accepted by an OA journal that requires
these fees. Since 2013 when Virginia Tech Libraries first made funds available, the OASF has
grown to $150,000 to support articles published in scholarly OA journals. Everyone in the VT
community—faculty, staff, and students, is eligible for support from the Libraries’ fund.
In this session we will review the OASF award guidelines, identify journal and publisher
databases to help you determine if a journal meets the funding criteria, locate OA journals in your
field, and discuss VT’s new open access policy (in effect as of July 1, 2021).
If there’s time we can also talk about the Libraries’ publishing services, including open textbooks,
and book subvention opportunities.

2021 TOME Stakeholder Meeting

Thursday October 28, 10:00am - 3:00pm |  Link TBA

Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem (TOME) is hosting their annual stakeholder meeting during Open Access Week. TOME brings together scholars, universities, libraries, and presses in pursuit of a common goal—a sustainable open monograph ecosystem. TOME launched in 2018 as a five-year pilot initiative of the Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and Association of University Presses (AUPresses). The stakeholder meeting will review TOME’s progress to date and to chart a path forward. The day will feature three main sessions:

1. Authors’ perspectives (roundtable of OA book authors)
2. Where are we now and what have we learned?
3. Where do we go from here?

Author Perspectives (10:00–11:30 a.m. EDT): Roundtable featuring faculty authors sharing their experiences with open access and their thoughts on the future of OA monographs in their disciplines.

Where Are We Now? (1:00–3:00 p.m. EDT): This session will include a progress report on TOME along with reports from other related initiatives, including the Pilot Data Trust for Open Access eBook Usage (OAeBU), Project MUSE, and more.

For other international 2021 Open Access Week events, see http://www.openaccessweek.org/ 

Accessibility

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please email library-event-accessibility-g@vt.edu at least 10 business days prior to the event.