Monday, October 17, 2016

This double session, followed by group discussion, begins with a look at the “open” landscape and then focuses on some activities in the public library and European research library arena. Cervone discusses the open landscape from the library and faculty perspectives. He looks at a number of open initiatives, challenges, and prospects for the future with respect to open access and open education. While the goals are laudable, the practical implementation for both is far from straightforward. The open access movement has been around for years, but is it starting to gain some momentum? Questions related to sustainability and the assurance of quality are just a few of the issues that threaten to slow the adoption of the open education model. Get a good picture of where things are in the “open” landscape. Our two public library practitioners discuss open access to open knowledge. The Town of Chapel Hill had an interest in joining the open data movement and looked to the library to make it happen. Worldwide, libraries are often the community’s most trusted government organization; they have the expertise in providing access to information and, frankly, to get things done. Hear about the Chapel Hill Open Data website as Green shares stories, lessons learned, and expert advice on publishing an open data web portal and providing open data from your local public library. Therriault talks turning open data into open knowledge by turning Boston’s open data collection into an accessible resource by working with Boston Public Library to catalog it and introduce it to the public. Danowski looks at reaching an open access world. In the first half of 2016 the Netherlands took over the EU presidency and open science became a focus topic. The Amsterdam call for action followed the Max Planck Society Berlin Declaration, which started a new international initiative for a transition of the scholarly journals from subscription to open access publishing. In Austria many institutions joined forces and founded Open Access Network Austria; the Austrian Library Consortium (KEMÖ) negotiated the first offsetting deal in the world with the Institute of Physics to avoid double-dipping. Deals with other publishers followed to support open access. The goal is to achieve a full transition to open access by 2025. Danowski discusses how to follow Europe’s call for action on open action and uses the example of Austria, their experiences and plans. With the window of opportunity opening, he encourages an international approach to act and disrupt the traditional system and make open access a reality.