Author: Jill Cirasella

Jill Cirasella is the Scholarly Communication Librarian and University Liaison at the CUNY Graduate Center.
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Open Access Week Thought of the Day #1

It’s Day 1 of Open Access Week, and here’s a thought from Mike Taylor (of the Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week blog) to kick off the week:

If you can make money by publishing research, that’s great.

The issue is not publishers who make money. The issue is corporations that go by the title “publishers”, but which in fact make money by preventing publication.

Because “publish” means “make public”. The whole point of a publisher is to make things public. The reason the scientists of 30 years ago sent their papers to a publisher was because having a publisher print them on paper and ship them around the world was the most effective way to make them public. And subscriptions were the obvious way to pay for that work. But now that anything can be made public instantly — “Publishing is not a job any more, it’s a button” — giving papers to a “publisher” that locks them behind a [paywall] is the opposite of publishing. It’s privating.

Read more: http://svpow.com/2012/10/16/publish-means-make-public-paywalls-are-the-opposite-of-publishing/

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The Stars of the Open Access Week Double Feature

We’ve already announced the Open Access Week Double Feature, the October 26 event consisting of a two-hour morning session about authors’ rights and a CUNY institutional repository and a two-hour afternoon session about open access curricular materials.  And now we’re thrilled to announce the day’s presenters:

Morning Session (10am-noon):

10am-11am: Authors’ Rights Workshop
Presenters: Stephen Francoeur (Library, Baruch), Ann Matsuuchi (Library, LaGuardia), and Maura A. Smale (Library, City Tech)

11am-noon: Panel Presentation on Progress Toward a CUNY Institutional Repository
Presenters: Jill Cirasella (Library, Brooklyn), Stephen Klein (Library, Grad Center), and Polly Thistlethwaite (Library, Grad Center)

Afternoon Session (2pm-4pm):

2pm-3pm: Temple University Library’s “Ditch That Textbook” Project: How to Make it Work in Your Classroom
Presenter: Kristina Baumli (English, Temple University)

3pm-4pm: Panel Presentation by CUNY Faculty Who Have Created and/or Used Open Access Textbooks or Other Educational Materials
Presenters: Susan Amper (English, Bronx), James DiGiovanna (Philosophy, John Jay), Philip A. Pecorino (Philosophy, Queensborough and SPS), Michael Waldman (Library, Baruch)

Plus: A light breakfast will be served in the morning session!

Location: Graduate Center, Room 9205
Space is limited — RSVP required
Please RSVP to Jill Cirasella (cirasella [at] brooklyn.cuny.edu) or Maura Smale (msmale [at] citytech.cuny.edu), and please indicate whether you’d like to attend the morning session, afternoon session, or both.

Sponsored by the LACUNY Scholarly Communications Roundtable (https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/groups/lacuny-scholarly-communications-round-table/), the Open Access Publishing Network @ CUNY (https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/groups/oapn/), the UFS Open Access Advisory Group, and the CUNY Graduate Center’s Mina Rees Library.

And Afterward…

We invite you to join us for a post-2012 OA Week mixer. Come if you’d like to meet up with folks who are interested in discussing free culture and new forms of publishing and (scholarly) communication. Join us for OA Week wrap-up drinks, discussions and brainstorming about what’s next.

All are invited, no need to rsvp, and bring a friend!

Friday, October 26
Beginning at 6pm
Rattle N Hum
14 East 33rd Street, Manhattan, NY
(between 5th and Madison)

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Free Webinar 10/23: How to Make Your Research Open Access (Whether You’re at Harvard or Not)

Can’t get to any Open Access Week events this year? Or can’t get enough of them? You might be interested in attending this webinar or watching the archived version after the fact:

How to Make Your Research Open Access (Whether You’re at Harvard or Not)
Tuesday, October 23, 12:30 pm

This event will be webcast live on this page at 12:30pm ET on 10/23/2012 and archived online shortly thereafter: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2012/10/OAweek

Co-hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Office for Scholarly Communication at Harvard University