To celebrate and promote the burgeoning open-access movement, the Washington University Libraries are hosting a video contest and a week of events Oct. 21-27.
The Access Granted Video Shorts 2013 Contest is already underway, with three prizes of $500 each. The categories are best scholarly video, best orignal performance and best mash-up. All undergraduate and graduate students may participate; submissions are due by Monday, Oct. 14. Winners will be announced in late October. Visit here to see some examples.
“The contest is meant to make students think about open access in practice, rather than just in principle,” said Jennifer Moore, geographic information systems and anthropology librarian. “It allows for students to be creative and have fun while also getting familiar with using and authoring open-access content. In addition, we’ve heard from faculty that, increasingly, students will be called on to create all kinds of dynamic content, and we want to encourage and support students in seeing themselves as active participants in scholarship.”
Students and faculty also are invited to learn more about the open-access movement during international Open Access Week Oct. 21-27. Highlights include the kickoff webinar “Open Access: Redefining Impact” Monday, Oct. 21; an Open Access Film Festival with screenings at noon each weekday in Olin Library’s Ginkgo Room (Level 1); and sessions on “Electronic Thesis and Dissertations and Open Access,” “Tools for Facilitating Open Sharing of Data” and “Open Access and Engineering.” Visit here to register.
Universities and libraries across the globe also are hosting talks and seminars. The worldwide movement to bring scholarly work and other knowledge within reach of all has gained momentum at Washington University in St. Louis in recent years, most notably with the adoption of an Open Access Resolution by the Faculty Senate in 2011 and the creation of a digital repository at openscholarship.wustl.edu.
“Already, open access is part of the fabric of our community, as evidenced by the Faculty Senate’s adoption of the Open Access Resolution,” said Ruth Lewis, scholarly communications coordinator and science librarian. “Some level of open access is appearing in all disciplines and driving changes for funding, legislation around the world, scholarly societies, publishers, students and scholars. International Open Access Week is an opportunity to focus attention on some aspects of this movement and related services in the libraries.”