Fwd: UWisc - Eau Claire Librarians Sign OA Declaration

[Peter Suber]

[Forwarding from Stephanie Wical, via the LibLicense list.  --Peter Suber.]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Librarians at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire McIntyre
Library have signed an Open Access Declaration, committing to
Open Access to scholarly research. Following the lead of other
academic libraries, including those at Oregon State University
and the University of Calgary, the faculty of the McIntyre
Library have joined in the movement to ensure Open Access to
scholarly research results. McIntyre Library hopes to build
awareness about Open Access publishing and how it can benefit
scholars at UW-Eau Claire, throughout the United States, and the
world.

According to Jennifer McLennan of the Scholarly Publishing and
Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), "Open Access" means "free,
immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research.
Open Access has the power to transform the way research and
scientific inquiry are conducted. It has direct and widespread
implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for
society as a whole." Open Access expands access to scholarly
information from all disciplines by making research available
through repositories like arXiv and PubMed Central, as well as
institutional repositories like Minds@UW, an archival database
for UW System research and scholarship. Open Access repositories
give researchers access to current scholarship; further, Open
Access helps libraries to manage the rising cost of research
resources. Through the Open Access Declaration, McIntyre Library
faculty have committed to make an effort to deposit their
scholarship in Minds@UW or other appropriate repositories.

John Pollitz, Director of the McIntyre Library applauds the
library faculty's commitment to Open Access because, "Libraries
across the country have seen their budgets squeezed by
unsustainable inflation of journal prices. Resulting journal
cancellations have hampered our ability to provide access to
information that is the lifeblood of higher education. As
librarians, we support the open access movement as a way to
reverse this trend and expand access to scholarship."

To join the open access movement, scholars should know that many
publishers allow authors to submit a preprint to an institutional
repository or a subject repository like arXiv. Authors can often
negotiate a publishing agreement, also known as a copyright
transfer agreement, in order to make a version of their
publication freely available in institutional repositories like
Minds@UW or on their faculty webpage.

To build awareness at UW-Eau Claire, McIntyre Library will host a
series of presentations and discussions during Open Access Week,
October 24-28, 2011. Open Access Week will be an opportunity for
UW-Eau Claire faculty and students to learn more about their
rights as authors, tools for Open Access publishing and research,
and the implications of Open Access for scholarship and higher
education.

The Open Access Declaration is available at:
http://www.uwec.edu/Library/services/openaccessdeclaration.htm

# # #

For more information about the McIntyre Library, please visit:
http://www.uwec.edu/library  To schedule an interview with
Library Director John Pollitz, contact (715) 836-4827 or email
POLL...@uwec.edu.

----------------------------
Stephanie H. Wical, Assistant Professor
Periodicals and Electronic Resources Librarian
McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
105 Garfield Avenue
Eau Claire, WI 54702
Phone:  715-836-3508
Email:  wic...@uwec.edu
http://www.uwec.edu/Library/