Open Access in Summary Amos Kujenga EIFL-FOSS National Coordinator, Zimbabwe Lupane State University, October 2013 Lesotho College of Education, 23 October 2013

 Definition of Open Access  Benefits of Open Access  What librarians can do to promote Open Access 2 Outline of Presentation

 The Crisis in Scholarly Communication is a major driving force behind the OA movement. (UNESCO, 2012).  In 2012 Harvard reported that its annual cost for journals from large journal publishers approached $3.75M (HARVARD, 2012) 3 The Case for Open Access

“Open Access (OA) is the provision of free access to peer-reviewed, scholarly and research information to all” (UNESCO, 2012). 4 Open Access Defined

GOLD  The “ GOLD ” route  Achieved through OA journals GREEN  The “ GREEN ” route  Achieved through repositories  The “Hybrid” route  OA articles in non-OA journals 5 OA Publishing

 Through OA, researchers and students world- wide gain increased access to knowledge.  Publications receive more visibility and readership, and the potential impact of research is increased.  Increased access to, and sharing of knowledge leads to opportunities for equitable economic and social development, intercultural dialogue, and can potentially spark innovation. (UNESCO, 2012) 6 OA Publishing

Some major publishers allow the published PDF version to be deposited in an IR (CONCORDIA, 2013): 7 OA Publishing

Some major publishers allow the post-print (final, refereed manuscript) to be deposited in an IR (sometimes with an embargo): 8 OA Publishing

“Emerald supports authors' voluntary deposit of their own work. Once an article has been published by Emerald, an author may voluntarily post their own version of the article that was submitted to the journal (pre-print) or the version of the article that has been accepted for publication (post-print) onto their own personal website or into their own institutional repository with no payment or embargo period. Authors may also use their own version of the paper (pre-print or post-print) for their own teaching purposes.” (EMERALD, 2013) 9 OA Publishing

10 Benefits of Open Access

UNESCO  OA is at the heart of UNESCO’s goal to provide universal access to information and knowledge  Believes that increased access to, and sharing of knowledge leads to opportunities for equitable economic and social development, intercultural dialogue, and has the potential to spark innovation. (UNESCO, 2012)  Has a detailed Open Access Policy guidelines document. 11 Organisations Supporting OA

EIFL  Has an Open Access programme in place  Building capacity to launch OA repositories and to ensure their long-term sustainability.  Training, supporting knowledge sharing, and providing expertise on OA policies and practices  Empowering librarians and library professionals, scholars, educators and students to become OA advocates.  More information on 12 Organisations Supporting OA

IFLA  “ IFLA affirms that comprehensive open access to scholarly literature and research documentation is vital to the understanding of our world and to the identification of solutions to global challenges and particularly the reduction of information inequality.” (IFLA, 2013)  Building capacity to launch OA repositories and to ensure their long-term sustainability. 13 Organisations Supporting OA

INASP  Extensive information on OA  Links to OA resources  Annual OA Week Competitions  More information on 14 Organisations Supporting OA

African Digital Libraries Support Network (ADLSN)  A community of African practitioners and other interested actors with a common goal of supporting the preservation and dissemination of African content in digital form.  Specialises in Open Source repository software  Implementation  Training  Technical Support  More information on 15 Organisations Supporting OA

16 OA-Related Open Source Software

How to Promote Open Access 17  Launch an OA Institutional Repository.  Get support from top management  Provide usage statistics  Help academics to deposit their research articles in the IR  Consider publishing an institutional OA journal.  Use Open Source software, e.g., OJS  Implement Subject Guides and work with academics when putting links to OA resources.

How to Promote Open Access 18  Look for good quality OA resources and provide links to them on your website.  Use social media to reach out to your audience and spread the news.  Include OA issues when conducting Information Literacy Skills (ILS) training.  Make use of tools such as Google Custom Search to create custom search engines for OA resources.  Collaborate with other organisations/institutions

How to Promote Open Access 19  Celebrate International OA Week annually.  Distribute promotional OA materials widely  Get buy-in from academics  Identify internal and external champions.  Subject Librarians should be constantly in touch with their constituencies on this matter.  Establish full-text Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) for your institution, backed by policies mandating students to submit their work.

How to Promote Open Access 20  Lobby for an Open Access Policy for your institution.  Keep up-to-date with OA developments through social networks, e.g., OA group on LinkedIn

As the Open Access movement gains momentum worldwide, it is essential for librarians and other information professionals to acquire the necessary skills in order to assist users to retrieve quality information from the growing pool of electronic resources. This will go a long way in enhancing the impact of research output made available via Open Access 21 Conclusion

Thank You Amos Kujenga EIFL-FOSS National Coordinator, Zimbabwe