Open Access Week & Organizing

Happy Open Access Week!  Here at the UM Library (where I work part-time), we had two formal events - one small and one large - to celebrate this week of scholarship, information sharing, and participation in open resources.  Open Access Week is, "a global event now entering its fourth year, [...and...] an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research" (openaccessweek.org).

On Tuesday, we did just that.  In partnership with the Copyright Office and MPublishing, I organized a brown bag event to bring together people from all positions in the library to discuss open access, what it means to them, and what it means to higher education and scholarly communication.  It was a fairly "easy" event to organize - people from Copyright and MPublishing were more than happy to work with me, and we publicized in the library newsletter and via email to the library.  The turnout was perfect for a discussion - we had several folks from different libraries (some librarians, some staff) and several people from the partnering offices.  It was an incredible opportunity to hear people directly related to open access issues converse amongst themselves as well as with those of us not quite as familiar with the topic.

For people looking to host events or raise awareness, my experience organizing a brown bag showed me that it was a great way to bring people together to have discussions about issues.  It's informal, but provides a space for people to talk - which is often what's needed to start a conversation.  Plus, as the organizer, you get to interact with and learn about a subject or topic that you're interested in.  Open Access week was a great way to make this happen here.