By Nancy Shin
Welch Medical Library in collaboration with the Sheridan Libraries is celebrating International Open Access Week (October 21-27), which is recognized by scholars and libraries worldwide. This year’s theme is “Community over Commercialization” and it encourages dialogue about which strategies to open scholarship considers the best interests of the both the academic community and public and which do not.
Open Access (OA) is literature that is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. The OA movement seeks to create a fair, equitable, and ethical future in scholarship where literature and research can be widely accessed and fairly used. When thinking about community, one should ask questions about how commercialization is impacting intellectual freedom, the public good, and progresses in science.
2024 OA Week at Johns Hopkins Libraries is filled with activities to engage faculty, staff, and students on ways to understand Open Access. The complete list of activities and OA information can be found in this Open Access Library Guide.
Happy International Open Access Week!