Open Access Overview

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First-Year Seminar. First Class.

In the spirit of open access, I am posting my First Year Seminar syllabus, powerpoint and the agenda for today’s class.

Today I will cover:

First-Year Foundations: Seminar 9/11/09 Agenda

I.                    Introductions; Mackenzie passes out index cards

II.                  Explanation of syllabus and campus passport; introduction to Tumblr

III.                Brief tour of campus resources: The Real Deal

IV.                Create a class name

Introductions: Pair up, and introduce yourselves to each other (name, where your are from). Share why you chose Biology as a major. After a brief discussion, you will introduce each other to the class.

Every seminar class will begin with The Real Deal. Share something that made your life here at FSC better or give us the Real Deal – something you’ve experienced that could be better. Share ideas on how to improve. I can post your ideas on Tumblr.

IMPORTANT – Reflection assignment Due Oct.6: Describe a day in your life at FSC. Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o. Can you relate with the students in this video? How is your experience different or the same? What would you change to make learning a better experience?

 

The syllabus for the class is here:

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Today’s presentation is to highlight some of our resources on campus. Here is the presentation:

 

I will also go over the blogging platform Tumblr. Here is a guide:

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October 14 is Open Access Day!

Celebrate Open Access Day! For those who are not familiar with the Open Access movement, Open Access usually refers to literature that is digital, online, free of charge and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. Here is a good introduction: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/brief.htm

• Why does Open Access matter to me? As a Reference and Electronic Resources Librarian, I help students locate the research they need. We do not have a large budget for e-journals, so subscribing to quality, relevant research is paramount. Students could care less about embargos and subscription contracts; what they care about is finding what they need, when they need it. So if the library cannot afford to purchase an expensive subscription and a student is aware that a college nearby carries the journal, the student has the option to go to the other institution or place an interlibrary loan request.
• How did you first become aware of it? I became aware of the open access movement when I became involved with managing e-journals.
• Why should scientific and medical research be an open-access resource for the world? There is an ethical and moral component to this question. Not only research should be free but research should be available to everyone particularly those in the scientific and medical community. Whether it is a scientist researching for a cure for cancer to a young women who was recently diagnosed with cancer and is looking up information on Medline, research should not be difficult to access. Access should be transparent and seamless.
• What do you do to support Open Access, and what can others do? Librarians should support Open Access by launching an institutional repository, publishing an open access journal and insisting to publishers that the stop charging high prices for their journals.