UWisc - Eau Claire Librarians Sign OA Declaration

["Wical, Stephanie H." <WICALSH@uwec.edu>]

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 
POLLITJH@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:  wicalsh@uwec.edu
http://www.uwec.edu/Library/