EIFL OA Repositories workshop for ISTeMag project partners | EIFL

“On May 14-15 EIFL conducted L'atelier sur les archives ouvertes (Open Access Repositories workshop) in Monastir, Tunisia, as part of a three-year TEMPUS funded project “Optimizing access to scientific and technical information at Maghreb universities” (ISTeMag). This was a regional workshop for the project partners from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia hosted by Université de Monastir.  Economic, social and educational benefits to making research outputs available without financial, legal and technical barriers to access were presented at the workshop and strategies for collective advocacy of open access to research results in Maghreb universities were discussed. Practical sessions included the case studies on successful management of open repositories, training on how to start, and the best approaches to collaborative management of open access repositories... Thought-provoking presentations, how-to recommendations and live discussions resulted into a strategy to promote open access in the region that includes setting up open access repositories, drafting open access policies (with a prior focus on open access to theses and dissertations), signing The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, collaboratively designing open access advocacy materials (promotional materials and short videos), documenting and sharing experiences (case studies and online webinars), and celebrating Open Access Week.”