The Open University Open Access Policy, approved by the Research Committee in 2015, has been updated.

The purpose of the policy is to identify the Open University’s position with regard to open access publishing and to outline the responsibilities and requirements of the University and its researchers. 

For further inforamtion or to read the updated policy, head over to the Library Research Support website.

With Open Access (OA) week coming up we thought we would share some events, resources videos and blogs hosted by Open Book Publishing (OBP) that you may be interested in:

EVENTS

Q&A with Open Book Publishers – a drop-in session to give you the chance to share any questions about any aspect  of Open Access publishing.

When: 19th October at 5pm (BST)

How: Via Zoom – https://zoom.us/j/310447634?pwd=NjhGa2FOcTNFUlZhTVYxTUxxUWIzQT09

Open Book Publishers in conversation with the Open Access Books Network – join Laura Rodriguez of OBP in a conversation with Lucy Barnes, Agata Morka and Tom Mosterd about the Open Access Books Network.

When: 21st October at 3:30 P.M. (BST)

How: Via Zoom – https://zoom.us/j/310447634?pwd=NjhGa2FOcTNFUlZhTVYxTUxxUWIzQT09

RESOURCES:

New Open Access Starter Pack – This pack will contain:

• Information for libraries, authors and researchers.
• Videos.
• A suite of tweets for Open Access Week that are for you to select from and to tweet from your social media accounts if you wish. You can already access this file here.
• Other media products that you can access here.

This Open Access Starter Pack will be available here on Monday, 19th October.

VIDEOS AND BLOGS:

New Blog Posts: this Open Access Week OBP will be sharing new and interesting blog posts written by some of their authors where they will discuss the topics of equity, inclusivity and open access publishing. Keep an eye on their blog at https://blogs.openbookpublishers.com/ to find out more.

New Videos: OBP will be releasing a series of informational videos focused on Open Access publishing. They will also be sharing interviews with some of their authors who will discuss the topic of their research in-depth. Keep an eye on their YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/openbookpublishers.

If you have any questions about OBP or to keep up-to-date with their events and releases check out their Twitter account here. For any questions about OA publishing at the OU contact the Library Research Support Team.

As part of Open Access Week 2020 we are hosting a livestream of Paywall: The Business of Scholarship documentary which will be followed by time for discussion. The focal points of the documentary include:

• the need for open access to research and science,
• questions the rationale behind the $25.2 billion a year that flows into for-profit academic publishers
• examines the 35-40% profit margin associated with the top academic publisher Elsevier
• looks at how that profit margin is often greater than some of the most profitable tech companies like Apple, Facebook and Google.

Everyone is invited! If you fancy joining us on Friday 23rd October 10:30am-12pm for the screening, please register here!

Building a strong online researcher presence can be quite a daunting task so here are some tips to help you take on the challenge.

Firstly it is important to know why it’s important to develop your presence online and there are a few reasons to highlight:

1. Being more visible online helps you to build strong connections with people in your field anywhere in the world. It helps you to stay in touch with what they are working on and can in turn, create future research opportunities.
2.  If your platform is consistent, insightful and professional, your research is more likely to be found, read, discussed and shared with others across the internet.
3. Personal websites such as blogs and social media profiles give us the opportunity to be ourselves online. In today’s climate it is more important than ever that we are being authentic online as it offers others in the field a chance to know who you really are which in turn, can influence others to reach out to you for collaboration.

Now let’s move onto tips to build up your presence:

1. Blogging is a great way to share your thoughts on different topics happening in your area of research without having to be too formal. Keeping a blog up to date and relevant can become challenging but if you enjoy writing and want to publish your ideas much quicker then this is a great option for you.
2. Social Media is an extremely useful tool to get your research interests and work to reach others. Twitter is more of an academic platform whereas Instagram is particularly helpful for early career researchers and PGRs. The community on Instagram is one where people share problems and gain advice to help them through the challenging times of doctoral studies and beyond.
3. Researcher profiles such as ORCID are useful in helping to distinguish your work from that of others who may have the same name. They also provide a persistent link back to your work and require minimal effort to upkeep as they automatically update when you publish new research.
4. Your LinkedIn profile can often be the first item that appears in a web search so ensure you keep the information up to date and engaging. Make sure you add a photograph and share your important conference presentations, publications and any other important work with your connections.
5. Research Gate is a well known academic networking site in which researchers can build their profile with information about their institution, projects and publications. It is a widely used platform and a useful way to connect with people in your field and the wider research community.

Questions? Contact us here or leave a comment to start a discussion!

Access to library buildings around the UK continues to be restricted by government social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The SCONUL Access scheme, which ordinarily allows OU students and staff to apply to visit other university libraries near them, has been suspended until further notice. The OU Library building remains closed for all visitors.

The online OU Library is available to provide resources to support you with thousands of ebooks, online scholarly journals and newspapers, archival sources full of treasures to explore as well as image databases and more. Whether you are a lark or a night owl, the Library Help Desk offers live online help through our 24 hour chat service. Need to find an article? Question about what keywords to use in your search? Discovered something Google can’t answer? Let a librarian help! Any time day or night, the OU Library is here for you.

For more information or assistance contact the OU Library Helpdesk.

Following on from our blog post last week, the changes to ORO are now complete and are now live. Check out the new look!

The Library has been working on refreshing ORO and its appearance and these changes have been implemented today.

This refresh has been undertaken to improve responsiveness and accessibility. The new look and feel is cleaner and has better contrast so ORO is easier to read, and will work better on mobile devices. We have also improved the browse menus so they are easier to navigate. Alongside this we have made the usage statistics more visible, as we are often asked about access to statistics on number of downloads. 

Following this update, the functionality of ORO, including the deposit process, should remain the same. Please do get in touch with library-research-support@open.ac.uk with any questions or comments.

Hello everyone,

The British Library are running a very short survey to help them gain an understanding of how people use the EThOS thesis service. They are particularly interested in how front end users – researchers of all kinds – use it.

Please follow this link to the survey to fill it out. The results will feed into improvements to the EThOS service in the near future.

We hope you have a great weekend!

The Library has been working on refreshing ORO and its appearance will be updated on the week commencing the 13th July. ORO may be unavailable for short periods during this time.

This refresh has been undertaken to improve responsiveness and accessibility. The new look and feel is cleaner and has better contrast so ORO will be easier to read, and will work better on mobile devices. We have also improved the browse menus so they are easier to navigate. Alongside this we have made the usage statistics more visible, as we are often asked about access to statistics on number of downloads.

Following this update, the functionality of ORO, including the deposit process, should remain the same. Please do get in touch with library-research-support@open.ac.uk with any questions or comments.

Calling all researchers! We’re running a webinar to give you the low down on the Sage Research Methods database and how it can enhance your research project no matter what stage you’re at.

What will be covered? A brief introduction to the database including what the database is and how it can be useful whether you are; writing your research question, conducting your literature review, choosing the best research methods, analysing your data, writing up your results or thinking about publication. It’s got something for everyone!

When? 20th July 2020 2-2:30pm

How to sign up? Click this link to sign up on my learning centre.

Need to contact us? Email us at library-research-support@open.ac.uk

Hope to see you there!