“As Deans and Directors of Virginia research libraries, our core mission and our highest priority is to ensure that our research communities have access to a rich, diverse, and sustainable collection of information resources. Recently, our colleagues in the University of California system took an important stand in defense of that mission by refusing to renew their $50 million “Big Deal” contract with Elsevier, the world’s most profitable vendor of information products. We write to express our gratitude and our support for them and the brave step they have taken, the latest in a global trend of libraries rethinking their biggest expenditures….”
Category Archives: oa.usa.va
Library dean advocates for open science research | News | Virginia Tech
“The leader of Virginia Tech’s library is at the forefront of national conversations to make research funded by the federal government freely accessible to all.”
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,”
Community Manager, Center for Open Science
“Join a mission-driven, non-profit tech company that is promoting openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research. The Center for Open Science (COS) will add a strategically-oriented community and partnerships manager. COS produces entirely free and open products and services with minimal branding to promote wide adoption and non-competition. This manager will facilitate the strategy, marketing, adoption, collaboration, and partnership growth around COS products and services – a sales team leader. The role is entirely mission-driven: How can COS best promote and support the adoption of scientific values in daily scientific practices? …”
Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Communications and Publishing | VCU Libraries
“The Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries invites applications and nominations for the position of Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Communications and Publishing. The successful candidate will provide innovative, creative leadership for a newly-created division of the VCU Libraries dedicated to advancing the university’s growing engagement with contemporary scholarly communications and scholarly publishing issues….”