SPARC presents: Open Access Week

While on my search for information on Open Access (OA) I stumbled upon SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. An international consortium of academic and research institutions and libraries, of which the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one, SPARC is passionate about fostering an open and serious conversation about open access to scholarly, research material in today’s online world.

 One avenue they do this is through an event called “Open Access Week”, an international forum in its 7^th year to be held October 20-26, 2014, destination: Everywhere. SPARC calls OA week a platform; it is an opportunity for academicians, researchers, publishers, agencies, and, yes, libraries to come together and air grievances, share ideas, create policies, and effect real change in the area of Open Access. For OA is something every information specialists should be keenly invested in, especially librarians, as it is the onus of our profession to aid the public in gaining access to the information they require.

Check out their website at http://www.openaccessweek.org/ for more information on how to participate or to just spread the word about OA.