Open Access | University at Albany

"Why did UAlbany create an open access policy now?

In March 2018, the SUNY Chancellor issued a resolution directing each campus to do two things: (1) develop an open access policy, and (2) create a searchable repository. UAlbany already had an institutional repository in place (Scholars Archive) but the open access policy was missing. The new policy completes the university’s response to the directive.

Starting in Fall 2018, Billie Franchini, then Chair of the Libraries, Information Systems, and Computing (LISC) Council of the University Senate, gathered a diverse group of staff, faculty, and students into an Open Access Policy Working Group, of which I was chair. Since then, we debated the contents of the policy, reviewed similar policies elsewhere, drafted a policy, met with multiple groups on campus, and moved the policy through the various stages of university governance. But for the pandemic, this process would have likely been completed in 2020.

What is UAlbany’s OA Policy? An OA policy establishes a set of expectations and practices to encourage and expand access to scholarship generated by campus authors. The key step for authors is to submit the accepted version of a publication (e.g., article) to Scholars Archive.

The full set of policy materials along with author support services managed by University Libraries are available here. Key people — both of whom also served on Open Access Policy Working Group since 2018 — are Emily Kilcer, Scholarly Communications Librarian, and Lindsay Van Berkom, Scholars Archive Administrator. Another key person for Rockefeller College is Angela Hackstadt, Subject Librarian for Political Science, Public Policy, Public Administration, and Law...."