...While leaders of major educational associations were issuing a national call for universities to broaden access to scholarly works last week faculty and administrators of Texas A&M University — one of the nation’s largest institutions of higher education — were actively discussing ways that Texas A&M could advance the use of digital technologies to publish and disseminate the results of their scholarship....
In his welcoming introduction, Jeffrey S. Vitter, A&M’s provost and executive vice president for academics, ...applauded the development of “the new and exciting options for digital publication of the artifacts of scholarship at earlier stages, in a fuller and more comprehensive manner, while maintaining and assuring quality standards.” ...
David Shulenburger, vice president for academic affairs of the Association of Colleges and Land-Grant Universities, Michael Jensen, director of strategic web communications for the National Academies, and Stuart Shieber, director of the office of scholarly communication at Harvard University — one of the first institutions of higher learning to adopt a formal open access policy — also headlined the event....
The final day’s well-attended roundtable discussions focused on how new technologies and mandates affect opportunities and standards for the publication and evaluation of scholarship in all fields at Texas A&M and what steps the university should take to facilitate, enhance and fund its commitment to scholarly communication and the publication of research and ideas. Video of all the presentations and discussions will be available on the symposium Web site beginning next week.
In his closing remarks, interim vice provost Luis Cifuentes said that he envisions Texas A&M’s emergence as a leader among public universities in the effective exploration of technologies and policies that will promote the widest possible dissemination of the data and ideas generated on the Texas A&M campus....
University administrators and scholarly publishing stakeholders are planning to meet in the near future to discuss initiatives and recommendations, based on the symposium presentations and the feedback they received....
PS: Also see our past posts on the OA activity at Texas A&M.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/23/2009 02:47:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
