University Libraries’ Open Access Subvention Fund guidelines have changed | Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech

“As a result of the rapid growth of journal Article Processing Charges (APCs), the demand for University Libraries’ Open Access Subvention Fund (OASF) service is unsustainable. Therefore, OASF guidelines have changed.

There is now a per-article cap of $1,500 (invoices must be at or below this amount), and a per-author per-year cap of $3,000. Due to recent changes in federal policy, federal funding agencies will pay for the cost of publishing Open Access (OA) if researchers request funds in their grant proposal. This is the main source of funding for publishing in OA journals. If grant funds are not available, researchers should contact their department….”

Announcing Construction Contracting, second edition: A Rights-Reversion Project – Open@VT

“The Open Education Initiative (OEI) supports and advocates for faculty to select materials that best fit their students’ needs. Faculty members contact the University Libraries when they realize there will not be enough copies of their selected book for a course. The Office of Scholarly Communication (the unit in which the Open Education Initiative resides) explores options for continued use in a course and determines whether a book is indeed out of print. Most out of print books are the result of publishers deciding that a book is no longer in their scope or no longer profitable to them. While fair-use digitization and very limited sharing of portions of books are options, they are limited, short-term and local options. Using copyright-related tools such as rights reversion, open access publishing processes including open licenses, and the equipment and services of the University Libraries we can provide public access and openly-licensed versions which not only aid students and faculty, but are helpful for students and faculty from other educational institutions as well as the general public.

As many authors sign away their copyrights at the point of publication, rights reversion is necessary for those authors who wish publish open access via a different publisher. Rights reversion can happen in three main ways: First, automatic rights reversion occurs when the terms of a publication agreement with a rights reversion clause is operationalized. (For this reason, we encourage authors to negotiate for a rights reversion clause before signing a publication agreement. We also encourage authors to retain copies of their publication agreements.) Second, for published works that are at least 25 years old and published in the U.S. after January 1, 1978, authors/heirs may be eligible for termination of transfer of copyrights. And third, also the option leveraged for Construction Contracting, the author or estate may contact the publisher to request and obtain rights reversion. (This helpful guide from Author’s Alliance provides further information, tools, and templates for authors and estates.) 

The Open Education Initiative cannot legally represent authors or estates. However, we are happy to advise on strategies for authors and estates approaching a publisher when the author/estate is planning to release rights-reverted works freely and publicly under an open license….”

Announcing three new open access agreements | VTx | Virginia Tech

“University Libraries at Virginia Tech has announced three new transformative agreements to bring read and publish access to journals from Cambridge University Press, the International Water Association (IWA), and the Institute of Physics (IOP). These agreements are available through Virginia Tech’s membership in VIVA, the academic library consortium of Virginia. As a result of these agreements, starting Jan. 1, 2023, corresponding authors at Virginia Tech are now able to publish open access articles in nearly 500 more journals at no cost to the authors. Additionally, the Virginia Tech community has expanded access to be able to read content from these publishers.”

Sharing data to fuel discovery | VTx | Virginia Tech

“The University Libraries provides expertise in data planning, management, and publishing to fuel discovery and future research. Recently, the library launched a new version of its research data repository platform, powered by Figshare. 

Accessible from anywhere, Figshare is a cloud-based platform for storing, sharing, and citing research data. Virginia Tech researchers can upload their research data and receive a digital object identifier (DOI) for citing the data in publications and meet sponsor requirements for openly available data. Data uploaded to the Virginia Tech research data repository is discoverable in search engines, including Google Scholar and Google Dataset Search. Engagement and impact of the research can be tracked through views, downloads, citations, and Altmetric usage tracking.  …”

Virginia Tech Publishing partners with international association to publish engineering open textbook | Virginia Tech Daily | Virginia Tech

“In February 2021, The University Libraries’ Virginia Tech Publishing and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) will publish “Introduction to Biosystems Engineering,” an open textbook for university-level introductory courses in biosystems engineering….”

Mellon Foundation grant supports development of a plan for using artificial intelligence to plumb the National Archives | Virginia Tech Daily | Virginia Tech

“A key outcome of the planning workshop will be the design of a subsequent pilot project aimed at enhancing access to National Archive collections, including the creation of new tools, techniques, and practices….”

A Big Deal Update » Open@VT

“This Open@VT blogpost is part of an ongoing series on Virginia Tech’s pending negotiations with the scholarly publishing giant Elsevier. Virginia Tech is one of seven research universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia that negotiates collectively with Elsevier and other large publishers to license access to thousands of scholarly journals through what are commonly called “big deals.” (The other schools are George Mason University, James Madison University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and College of William and Mary.) The current big deal agreement with Elsevier is set to expire at the end of 2021. As this deadline approaches, we are eager to engage the VT community in a conversation about the best path forward….”

A Big Deal Update » Open@VT

“This Open@VT blogpost is part of an ongoing series on Virginia Tech’s pending negotiations with the scholarly publishing giant Elsevier. Virginia Tech is one of seven research universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia that negotiates collectively with Elsevier and other large publishers to license access to thousands of scholarly journals through what are commonly called “big deals.” (The other schools are George Mason University, James Madison University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and College of William and Mary.) The current big deal agreement with Elsevier is set to expire at the end of 2021. As this deadline approaches, we are eager to engage the VT community in a conversation about the best path forward….”

Beyond the Paywall: Examining Open Access and Data Sharing Practices Among Faculty at Virginia Tech Through the Lens of Social Exchange

“The movement towards open access has allowed academic researchers to communicate and share their scholarly content more widely by being freely available to Internet users. However, there are still issues of concern among faculty in regards to making their scholarly output open access. This study surveyed Virginia Tech faculty (N = 264) awareness and attitudes toward open access practices. In addition, faculty were asked to identify factors that inhibited or encouraged their participation in open access repositories. Findings indicate that while the majority of Virginia Tech faculty are seeking to publish in open access, many are unaware of the open access services provided by the university and even less are using the services available to them. Time, effort, and costs were identified as factors inhibiting open access and data sharing practices. Differences in awareness and attitudes towards open access were observed among faculty ranks and areas of research. Virginia Tech will need to increase faculty awareness of institutional open access repositories and maximize benefits over perceived costs if there is to be more faculty participation in open access practices.”

 

Virginia Tech researchers earn grant to study big data sharing and reuse | News | Virginia Tech

“Sharing, use, and reuse of data in a holistic manner across faculty, colleges, government, and industry is crucial for the community at large to be able to make sense of what is being gathered and to make good use of it as well,”