Walt at Random » Blog Archive » Oregon and Washington librarians: Let’s talk about open access

If you’re a librarian in Washington or Oregon, especially an academic librarian, I encourage you to register for the 2013 OLA/WLA conference–and to sign up for the Wednesday (April 24) afternoon (2-5 p.m.) preconference on Open Access. I can’t tell you just what I’ll cover, because I’ll probably be working on it through mid-April. I can say that it won’t just be a rehash of Open Access: What You Need to Know Now, although I’ll certainly cover the basics of OA as set forth in that book. If I had to guess, I’d guess about an hour will be devoted to discussion of OA basics and controversies, two hours to other material (including lots of discussion). Beyond that, I anticipate looking at recent events and what seems plausible or likely for the future, and on how you and your library can be involved. If you’re writing in the profession, a growing number of top journals are OA-friendly (and, best of all, no-fee Gold OA). If you’re not, you’re probably aware that the current situation with journal prices is not sustainable for libraries. (Yes, we’ll probably spend a few minutes talking about various definitions of “sustainability.”) I plan for it to be fresh, informative, lively–and with lots of room for discussion.