The Brock University Library will join in the global celebrations of International Open Access Week with two workshops highlighting how researchers can maximize the impact of their scholarship.

• Oct. 26, 12-1 p.m. – Opening up graduate scholarship via the Brock Digital Repository, with Tim Ribaric, Acting Head of the Brock Digital Scholarship Lab and Map, Data and GIS Library, and Elizabeth Yates, Liaison and Scholarly Communication Librarian. This workshop will explore the process of showcasing graduate research via the Brock Digital Repository and highlight key considerations around publishing, copyright and embargoes. Register here.
• Oct. 28, 12-1 p.m. – Maximizing Access and Impact: Support for Open Access Publishing at Brock, with Cal Murgu, Instructional Design Librarian, and Elizabeth Yates, Liaison and Scholarly Communication Librarian. This workshop will explore the benefits of open access publishing and highlight financial support available via the Library Open Access Publishing Fund and funding memberships with major publishers. Register here.

Open Access refers to free, immediate online access to research. The theme of International Open Access Week is: It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity. This theme aligns with the recent UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, which centres the need to “embrace a diversity of knowledge, practices, workflows, languages, research outputs and research topics”.  Open science, and open access publishing, can advance structural equity by ensuring equitable sharing of research outputs from scholars in both developed and developing nations.

The Library strives to advance equitable open access practices by providing infrastructure to disseminate Brock’s research outputs via the Brock Digital Repository and Scholarly Journals at Brock, through education and advocacy, and by making financial investments to support a variety of open access platforms and projects.

“During Open Access Week, we invite everyone in the Brock community to reflect on how they can break down barriers in how knowledge is created and shared,” says Elizabeth Yates, Liaison and Scholarly Communication Librarian. “And we hope that these workshops will spur conversations and actions which can help all of us advance equity – both individually and in our academic systems and communities.”

More Open Access Week events from around the world can be found here.