VCU Libraries supports independent, queer, peer-reviewed open access publisher punctum books

“VCU Libraries has joined the Supporting Library Membership Program of the open access book publisher punctum books–an independent queer- and scholar-led, and peer-reviewed open access book publisher. 

punctum books is devoted to authors working in the humanities, social sciences, fine arts and architecture and design who want to publish books that are genre-queer and genre-bending and which take experimental risks with the forms and styles of intellectual writing. All works published by punctum are licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 International License, making them available without cost and without barriers to their reuse….”

“Researching factors influencing faculty engagement with open practices” by Jessica Kirschner

“Researching factors influencing faculty engagement with open practices” provides an overview of a current research project at VCU which is attempting to identify which factors influence faculty engagement with open practices (for this project, publishing an open access article or book or creating or customizing OER), focusing on the VCU School of Education. An initial quantitative survey has been completed and the project will soon move to a qualitative data collection phase of interviews and focus groups. This presentation provides an overview on the current project status, initial results, how the team hopes to apply our findings, and next steps. Initial results includes how faculty are generally supportive of the concept of open, but are unsure how it will be received by promotion and tenure committees.

3 VCU projects awarded state grant supporting the creation of no-cost course materials

“VCU faculty are a part of three of eight projects awarded in the Spring 2021 cycle of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) Open Course Grants. This funding supports faculty in transitioning to course materials available at no cost to students, such as open educational textbooks and/or library resources.

The VCU-led projects were selected out of a strong pool of 31 applications and were the three highest awarded projects, receiving a combined $89,000 out of $155,885 awarded this cycle. VCU was one of 11 Virginia institutions represented in this round of awards. …”