Happy Open Access Week!

October 20, 2014

Open Access Week, a global event now entering its eighth year, is an opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research. “Open Access” to information – the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need – 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 (OA) has the potential to maximize research investments, increase the exposure and use of published research, facilitate the ability to conduct research across available literature, and enhance the overall advancement of scholarship. Research funding agencies, academic institutions, researchers and scientists, teachers, students, and members of the general public are supporting a move towards Open Access in increasing numbers every year. Open Access Week is a key opportunity for all members of the community to take action to keep this momentum moving forward.

This year's theme is Generation Open. Learn more about why open access is important and see what events are happening near you!

Lots of people are getting involved, too:

Links!

Libraries, Books, & Authors

Once Upon a Midnight Dreary: A Collection of Facts About Poe’s “The Raven”
With no Internet at home, kids crowd libraries for online homework
Do you love your public library? I encourage you to consider supporting the Kickstarter for Free For All: Inside the Public Library! "Help us make our film about America's amazing public libraries and the urgent need to keep them open, innovating, and free for all."
Highland Park, Texas censoring books based on ALA’s Most Frequently Challenged List You should check out the OIF's letter in response.
Bringing the Smithsonian to Your Patrons
Comics in Schools and Libraries | New York Comic Con 2014

Net & Tech

Happy birthday, Ubuntu! Ubuntu turns 10: A look back at desktop Linux standard bearer
FBI Director Comey calls on Congress to stop unlockable encryption. Good luck with that. "The argument against that notion? That any time you create a means of access for law enforcement -- what Comey called a 'front door' that the FBI can use 'with clarity and transparency' -- it increases the chances that those with ill-intentions can get at that same data." Including, we've discovered, the FBI.