Open Access Week

Posted by Alison Aldrich on October 18th, 2010 Posted in: News from NLM, News From NNLM PNR

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October 18-24 is Open Access Week, an occasion to advance knowledge about how the open access movement is impacting scholarly communication. What is open access? Here are some useful resources to help you understand open access in the context of health sciences research literature.

Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Consortium (SPARC): Resources
SPARC provides a full suite of resources for librarians, authors, publishers, editors, and others who would like to educate themselves and help to create change in the scholarly communication system.

NIH Public Access Policy: FAQ
While not an open access policy per se, the NIH Public Access Policy does ensure that the public has access to NIH-funded research articles. This page provides extensive background information about this relatively new policy and how NIH-funded authors can be in compliance with it.

Medical Library Association: Scholarly Communications Issues
This page provides an overview of the work of MLA committees and task forces involved in the association’s scholarly communications initiative. It also provides links to committee reports, other activities, select publications, and current MLA CE opportunities. Look under “Committee Task Force Reports and Statements” for a useful and re-usable Power Point presentation, “NIH Public Access Policy: Overview for Librarians”.

Scholarly Communication: Issues for Health Sciences Libraries in Clinical Settings
Issues related to scholarly communication receive a lot of attention at large academic and research institutions. This  page summarizes the major issues and offers suggestions for smaller health sciences libraries, librarians, and the clients they serve.