Tag: open access textbooks

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The Clarion Covers Open Access — Not Once, Not Twice, but Three Times!

In the past few months, the Clarion, the newspaper of the PSC-CUNY, has published three in-depth articles about open access to scholarly literature and textbooks.

  • “Open Access Comes to CUNY” by Nancy Scola summarizes the big Open Access Week 2012 event at the Graduate Center and introduces many key open access concepts and tools: open access journals, institutional repositories, subject repositories, SHERPA/RoMEO, the advantages for faculty and CUNY of open access, and efforts at CUNY toward creating an institutional repository.

Three is great, but they’re not done yet!  The Clarion also welcomes us to send letters to the editor and/or article ideas about open access to their editor, Peter Hogness, phogness [at] pscmail.org.

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OA sessions @ the CUNY IT Conference

Like many of us I’m attending the CUNY IT Conference tomorrow and Friday. Perusing the schedule of sessions I was delighted to see lots of presentations about open access issues and projects. Whether you’re an OA newbie or a seasoned OA advocate, come lend your support to your colleagues in these sessions!

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2:15-3:15PM:

The Online Journal System: Implications for Scholarly Publishing in CUNY

A dozen CUNY journals are being published using the Open Journal Systems (OJS). The Urban Library Journal has migrated from print and subscription-based to an open access, online-only journal through OJS. The change has increased visibility of the title and streamlined the process of publishing. Learn about the system back-end, how to produce an issue and how to archive issues using OJS. Implications for journal publishing in an online-only environment will be discussed.

Monica Berger, Associate Professor, Library, New York City College of Technology
Jill Cirasella, Assistant Professor, Library, Brooklyn College
Beth Evans, Associate Professor, Library, Brooklyn College
Steven Ovadia, Associate Professor, Library Media Resources Center, LaGuardia Community College

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 9:30-10:30AM:

An Open Access Repository for CUNY: Why We Need It and How You Could Use It

CUNY’s University Faculty Senate recently voted to create an open access institutional repository (IR), which would allow faculty and staff to share scholarly writings, instructional materials, college documents and more. This session will provide an overview of open access, IRs and emerging best practices, as well as a report on possibilities for and progress toward a CUNY IR. Come learn why IRs are important and share how you might use an IR.

Jill Cirasella, Assistant Professor, Library, Brooklyn College
Matthew K. Gold, Associate Professor, English, New York City College of Technology / Director, CUNY Academic Commons
Stephen Klein, Systems Librarian, Graduate Center
Polly Thistlethwaite, Chief Librarian, Graduate Center

Challenges in Founding the Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy

Members of the Editorial Collective of JITP reflect on the challenges faced in establishing a new online and open access scholarly journal. These include the difficulty of ensuring that the journal is truly interdisciplinary; how an 18-member “collective” makes decisions; the journal’s attempts to create a space for new modes of scholarly writing and peer review; and the problems faced in working in and transitioning across platforms such as Open Journal Systems and WordPress.

Steve Brier, Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program Coordinator and Professor, Graduate Center
Sarah Ruth Jacobs, Communication Fellow, Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute, Baruch College
Kimon Keramidas, Assistant Director of the Digital Media Lab, Bard Graduate Center
Benjamin Miller, Macaulay Instructional Technology Fellow, Baruch College
Luke Waltzer, Assistant Director for Educational Technology, Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute, Baruch College

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1:00-2:00PM:

What’s Price Got To Do with It? Open Access Course Materials at CUNY

Despite dramatic changes in how educational content is created and accessed, textbook publishers appear reluctant to change their existing pricing models. Recent years have seen the proliferation of Open Access (OA) curricular materials, yet while a clear demand exists for these materials from budget-constrained students and colleges, wide adoption has lagged. How might CUNY create its own infrastructure to coordinate and share the intellectual and pedagogical OA resources that exist at various colleges?

Susan Amper, Professor, English, Bronx Community College
Mark McBeth, Associate Professor, English, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Graduate Center
Philip A. Pecorino, Professor, Philosophy, Queensborough Community College and School of Professional Studies
Johannah Rodgers, Assistant Professor, English, New York City College of Technology
Maura A. Smale, Associate Professor, Library, New York City College of Technology

Photo by Matt Katzenberger

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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)