SPARC

For more information, contact
Jennifer McLennan (jennifer [at] arl [dot] org)

Less than one week from today, more than 200 sites around the globe will mark Open Access Week 2009. Research institutes, colleges, universities, and advocacy organizations everywhere will host events or wear buttons to express their support for free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research. In anticipation of this global event, SPARC is pleased to offer a new series of updates and resources to help raise awareness and advance discussion.

• SPARC welcomes the world to Open Access Week 2009. In a new video letter, SPARC’s Heather Joseph and Jennifer McLennan welcome participants and supporters of Open Access everywhere to the Week’s events. The brief, 6-minute clip sets the stage for Open Access Week 2009, noting that it’s an important opportunity to raise awareness, celebrate progress made in advancing Open Access to date, and to inspire the community to find new ways to continue the momentum. SPARC’s spokespeople point to the potential impact of Open Access for the public good, the many OA-related developments over the past few years, the variety of events taking place this month, and the simple ways to express support during Open Access Week. The clip is available under embargo until 12:00PM BST (7:00AM Eastern), Sunday, October 18th, at http://www.vimeo.com/7048906. For advance access, contact Jennifer McLennan through jennifer [at] arl [dot] org.
   
• SPARC releases Open Access 101 video. In partnership with student advocates, who are increasingly active around Open Access issues, SPARC has developed a new, animated Open Access 101 video. This 3-minute clip highlights the widespread concern among students for the cost of access, the dynamics of the scholarly publishing process, how Open Access is made possible, and the opportunities created by the open accessibility and reuse of research results. Open Access 101 is available to view or download free at http://vimeo.com/6973160.  

  The Voices of Open Access video series is also available. This series of one-minute videos, produced for Open Access Day 2008, captures why teachers, patient advocates, librarians, students, research funders, and physician scientists are committed to Open Access to research. Collectively, the voices define Open Access as a fundamental component of a new system for exchanging scholarly research results, where: health is transformed; research outputs are maximized to their fullest extent; efficiencies in the research process enable faster discoveries; the best science is made possible; young people are inspired; access transcends the wealth of the institution; cost savings are realized across the research process; and medical research conducted for the public good is made available to everyone who needs it. The Voices of Open Access series HD videos are available to view or download free at http://vimeo.com/oaday08.

• Leading international higher ed organizations join Open Access Week. The Joint Information Services Committee (JISC) of the UK and SURF in the Netherlands have joined as Organizers of Open Access Week 2009. Organizers, which include SPARC, the Public Library of Science, Students for Free Culture, eIFL, the Open Access Directory, and OASIS (the Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook), are responsible for informing the scope of Open Access Week programming, expanding global participation in the event, and managing key resources.

  Open Access Week is also supported by a broad array of partners, who promote participation in the week as well as programming specific to their constituencies. 2009 partners include: SPARC Europe, SPARC Japan, Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (UK), SciELO-FAPESP-BIREME (Brazil), The Open Society Institute (New York & Budapest), SURF (The Netherlands), Open-access.net (Germany), The Public Knowledge Project (Canada), My Open Archive (Japan), DuraSpace (US), and IssueLabs (US).
   

• It’s not too late to get involved in Open Access Week 2009.  Here are five simple ways YOU can participate:

1.    OPEN your email, go viral. Send a video link or 3 little-known OA facts to your friends online.
2.    OPEN your sense of style. Wear a t-shirt, button or sticker (real or virtual).
3.    OPEN a video. Invite a few friends – online, in person, or at your next class – and play one of the Voices of Open Access videos (http://vimeo.com/oaday08).
4.    OPEN a table. In your library, in your department or faculty lounge, or in the student union, set up a table where you can talk with friends and colleagues about Open Access. Take advantage of available sticker templates, flyers, and posters.
5.    OPEN an event invitation. It’s not too late to invite your contacts to get together anytime from October 19 – 23. Tight schedules? Get together by phone. Watch or listen to a video and then open discussion.

See www.openaccessweek.org for resources.

• PARTICIPATING? Please be sure and add your details to the events listing at http://oad.simmons.edu. Take pictures, record your events, and share via www.openaccessweek.org.
   
• “How do we pay for Open Access” is a question that many OAWeek discussions will touch upon. A new SPARC guide, released October 8, explores income models to support open-access distribution currently in practice. “Income models for Open Access: An overview of current practice” examines the use of supply-side revenue streams (such as article processing fees, advertising) and demand-side models (including versioning, use-triggered fees). The guide provides an overview of income models currently in use to support open-access journals, including a description of each model along with examples of journals currently employing it. “Income models for Open Access: An overview of current practice” is online at http://www.arl.org/sparc/publisher/incomemodels.  

  More resources and news on plans for Open Access Week 2009 are available at http://www.openaccessweek.org and through the Web sites of the organizers:

•    SPARC - http://www.arl.org/sparc
•    The Public Library of Science - http://www.plos.org/
•    OASIS – http://www.openoasis.org
•    Open Access Directory – http://oad.simmons.edu
•    SURF – http://www.surf.nl
•    JISC – http://www.jisc.ac.uk