Open Access 101: Foundations for OA Work in a Rapidly Evolving Landscape - SPARC

"Open Access (OA) has emerged as a significant area of academic library work across the higher ed landscape, impacting nearly everyone in the profession. It affects management at all levels, outreach, collection development, technical services, and public services operations, as well as dedicated scholarly communication staff. Open Access is evolving so quickly that getting and maintaining a hand-hold can be challenging—particularly for folks who are gaining responsibilities related to OA for the first time.

To address this, SPARC is collaborating with the the team behind the Scholarly Communication Notebook (Josh Bolick, Maria Bonn, and Will Cross) to host a three-part series meant to provide an entry point to OA work in libraries as well as a refresher for those already doing this work. In the first session, we’ll cover foundational principles like definitions and development of OA. In the second, we’ll examine a few case studies to see how a variety of institutions implement OA services and support. Finally, we’ll dig into some of the trickier issues that have recently emerged in this contested space. No prior knowledge or experience is necessary, and all are welcome. 

These sessions are open to anyone working in libraries, and participants can register for just those sessions that are of interest. SPARC membership is NOT required, and our goal in this series is to support the wider community, particularly those at institutions with fewer resources to support OA-related work."