Successful Open Access Event at University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Wow! It was really great to host the very first Open Access Week at University of Nigeria, Nsukka which was on 24th October, 2017. The event was organised by a group of Open Access Advocates ranging from Librarians, Pharmacists, Scientists and other lecturers who think that scholarship has come to a point where research data and related resources should be globally visible. The event was well attended and the Vice Chancellor, Prof. B. C. Ozumba declared the event open. 

There was a radio talk show by the University Librarian – Prof. Chinwe Ezeani and two other members of the Open Access Group – Dr. Mrs N. Ekere and Dr. Ubaka C. The topics were on Open Access and Institutional Repositories, Open Education and Open Science. 

After the radio programme which was at 9:am, the workshop kicked off at 11am. The event commenced with video clips on Open Access which were played to participants, after which Dr. Ifeanyi Ezema spoke on Open Access Publishing and and the future of Scholarship in Africa. The second presentation was on Open Science and this was done by Dr. Ubaka, a Clinical Pharmacy lecturer. Dr. Mrs Ekere who is a Reference Librarian at University of Nigeria, spoke on Open Education.

There were lots of on-session social media activities. Members tweeted about the event using the following hashtags and mentions: 

#openaccess #openaccessng #INASPInfo #OAWeek #OAWeekUNN #OAWeek17

@openaccessunn @open_access @open_con @libraryunn @openaccessng

See more pictures of the event below: 

OPEN ACCESS WEEK, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA

You are invited to the first-of its-kind ‘Open Access Week’ to be held in University of Nigeria, Nsukka on 24th October, 2017. The Theme of the event is “Open in Order to Increase Visibility in Teaching and Research”. The event is being organised by a group of Open Access Advocates in UNN to mark the International Open Access Week which is a global, community-driven week of action to open up access to research. The event is celebrated by individuals, institutions and organizations across the world.  
Event  Breakdown
Date: Tuesday 24th October, 2017
 
Venue: MTN Digital Library, Nnamdi Azikiwe Library, UNN
Time: 9:00am- 9:30am -Radio Call-in Programme at Lion FM    
         11:00am – 1:00pm  – Workshop at MTN Digital Library
Please Note: 
* The official hashtag of Open Access Week is #OAweek. 
* The UNN Open Access Week event hashtag is: #OAweekUNN 

* You are invited to use the hashtag #OpenInOrderTo to start an online conversation about the benefits of an open system of communicating scholarship.
*UNN Open_Con Satellite event comes up in November (Details to be announced during OA Week event)
To register for the event, click here to  fill the short online form

*Attendance is not restricted to the number of online registrants. 
To learn more about the UNN Open Access Group, visit our blog: www.openaccessunn.blogspot.com

University of Nigeria Nsukka Open Access Group

I would want to post what the University of Nigeria Open Access Group is doing. We are a group of Librarians, Lecturers, Scientists and Postgraduate Students dedicated to advocating Open Access in Nigeria, with University of Nigeria Nsukka as our starting point. This group was birthed in March, 2017 after the founder of Open Access Nigeria, Dr. Ahmed Ogunlaja visited the University for a meeting with Helen N. Okpala (a Librarian) and Dr. Emeka Ubaka (A Pharmacist). See picture below: 

Soon after the meeting, the group came alive and now has about 26 members (see picture below) from the Institution who meet regularly online (via WhatsApp) and offline to brainstorm on how to advance Open Access locally and globally. Currently, the group is planning to host Open Access Week in October 2017 and OpenCon in November, 2017. 

We recently met with the University of Nigeria Management, (click to see link) particularly the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Benjamin C. Ozumba, to share our group vision and mission, among other things. Our events have been approved by the Vice Chancellor, to be held on slated dates. See pictures below:

We have launched our blog and Twitter page (@openaccessunn) Our Blog address is: www.openaccessunn.blogspot.com 

You can also reach at us via our Email: openaccessunn@gmail.com