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Looking back: Open Access Week 2020
Open Access Week is celebrated by universities and researchers from around the world, aiming to make openness a default value for research and how we share it. It could not take place at a busier time for academic libraries but, ever year the community comes together to share great practice and talks by inspiring individuals who are seeking to bring greater equity to research.
What was everyone doing?
There were loads of great events, but the British Library’s fantastic ‘Open and Engaged‘ conference stood out. This focussed on inequities in scholarly communications and showed what we can do to level the playing field for global research, so voices from researchers all places and institutions can be heard and valued. One takeaway was the need for ‘denorthernization’ – that is, shifting the focus away from just research written in English and from authors in the Global North.
What did we do at Edge Hill?
The Library and Learning Services Research Support Team ran a virtual poster exhibition on Twitter and delivered a webinar on sharing research and teaching materials openly on Figshare.
The posters
Originally created and shared openly by Iowa State University for Open Access Week 2017, we thought these were too good not to share and revive! The exception is the poster for The Invisible Man (1933), also free to use.
Monday – ‘Bring your research back to life!’
This poster promoted Edge Hill Pure, reminding researchers that by openly sharing your work, you can bring a whole new audience to it.
Tuesday – ‘the Invisible Researcher’
Here we highlighted ORCID, the research ID platform. This great initiative helps individuals with popular names stand out from the crowd and claim ownership of their research outputs.
Wednesday – ‘Don’t get held hostage by copyright’
Nothing illustrates copyright better than a werewolf! With this tweet we wanted to show how researchers can keep their copyright rather than signing it over to the publisher and by doing so, they can share their outputs far more widely and openly.
Thursday– ‘Hybrid journals strike again!’
It can cost money to publish your research articles, leading to all kinds of inequity. When this happens, the richer universities can enjoy the benefits of open access, while less well funded institutions may have to publish research behind a paywall. This is changing though, and we summarise the new opportunities on offer on our new webpage: https://go.edgehill.ac.uk/pages/viewpage.action?spaceKey=ls&title=Open+access+options+for+researchers
Friday – ‘The future is open’
Like it or not, the open research movement (also known as ‘open science’) is gaining ground, and research funders are insisting on open research practices such as reproducibility and open access with zero embargoes. The future then, is looking bright for bringing true structural equity to research. Here we highlighted Edge Hill Figshare as a platform for making research outputs ore open.
The webinar
Together with Dr Dawne Irving Bell from the Centre for Learning and Teaching, Liam delivered a webinar on sharing data openly with Figshare and introducing the National Teaching Repository, an open way to share teaching materials. It was great to show what we’re doing to make both research and teaching more open and accessible and discuss the benefits witht he community. You can here see the webinar recording here: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13123106.v1
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Reservations Are Back!
Click and Collect/Reservation:
Our temporary click and collect service finished on Friday 16th October as we reintroduce the reservation process to enable fair access to stock for all students, including Distance Learners.
Users will be able to reserve items currently out on loan, as well as request items from our Manchester site.
Reservations
Users will be able to reserve items currently out on loan, as well as request items from another site. You will not be able to reserve items which are showing available at Ormskirk, if you are collecting from Catalyst.
You will be emailed when your item is ready to collect, and you will have 7 days to collect it.
All loans will automatically renew 3 days before their due date and, if the item is not reserved, this process will continue with unlimited renewals.
You can manually renew items, without reservations, via the My Account function in the library catalogue or by contacting us.
If any item(s) are reserved, you will be notified by email, and the reserved item(s) should be returned by their due date. Fines will start to accrue after a grace period to allow for quarantine and fewer days attendance on Campus.
Reservations may take longer to fulfil as all returned stock is quarantined for 3 days prior to processing.
If you are shielding or self-isolating & require access to library stock, please contact us ehu.ac.uk/askus
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Roll Up, Roll Up! Autumn UniSkills Webinars are here!
We know that you’ve all been eagerly awaiting our Autumn timetable and we can announce that bookings are now open!
The UniSkills webinars are delivered by our knowledgeable team of Academic Skills Advisors and are jam packed with the very best advice to help you ace your assignments. Whether you’re just starting out on your student journey, or you’re a postgraduate who need help with your Masters dissertation, there really is something for everyone. There’s everything from academic writing, critical analysis, proofreading, referencing and all the way through to writing your dissertation.
If you’re new to writing at university level and have your first assignment title but you’re not sure how to get started then Introduction to Academic Writing would be ideal for you. There’s also Being Critical, Become a Paraphrasing Pro and Using Harvard Referencing which can be useful as you approach each stage of your assignment. If you are struggling to find resources for your assignment and want some help finding your eBooks and eResources, we even have bite size sessions such as Finding Online Resources via the Library Catalogue and your Reading List and Finding Electronic Journals in Discover More.
If you have had a break in your studies, and possibly feeling a little overwhelmed, the Returning To Learning community is a chance to meet other students, chat about your learning experiences, and discover study tips and strategies, as you settle back into University life.
UniSkills also has loads to offer returning students so you may be interested in Developing Academic Writing further as you move in to higher level writing and our Grow Your Academic Resilience session can help you to cope with the challenges this may bring. If you’re going in to your final year then I’m sure that lots of you are thinking about your dissertation and Writing Your Undergraduate Dissertation can help you on this journey. We haven’t forgotten about postgraduate’s either as the Writing Your Postgraduate Dissertation session will help you consider how to keep a narrow focus and originality of research.
Also for the first time this year we are offering UniSkills Extra sessions. Find out how assistive technology software can be used to support your studies with the Using Assistive Technologies at University and Harnessing Digital Accessibility sessions or if you want to stop procrastinating Developing Strategies for Learning is ideal for helping you to devise strategies to manage your time better.
You can check out the full line-up and book your place at ehu.ac.uk/workshops. There are various times and dates to choose from and there is no limit on the number of webinars you can attend. All the sessions are delivered virtually through Blackboard Collaborate and can be accessed on or off campus. Don’t worry if you haven’t used this technology yet as we’ll send you a link to join the session along with a handy technical guide. You can also watch our useful video guide, for how to really get the most out of attending a UniSkills webinar.
If you are unable to attend a session but would like some additional guidance on any of these topics then please get in touch with us or book a 1-2-1 appointment here.
We’re looking forward to seeing you soon!
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