Contact: John Pollitz, Director, McIntyre Library or Stephanie Wical, Librarian, McIntyre Library

Tel: (715) 836-4827

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

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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.

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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/