Leading a Campus-Wide Conversation About Open Access

Abstract

Open access (OA) scholarship—generally, scholarship made freely available online with minimal copyright and licensing restrictions—is a “hot topic” in academic libraries. Academic libraries are perfectly situated to lead the discussion about open access and are natural partners in campus-wide open access initiatives. In April 2012, Rice University’s Faculty Senate passed an Open Access Policy, directing faculty to place copies of their peer-reviewed journal articles in the Rice Digital Scholarship Archive. This paper discusses the successes and barriers to policy implementation, thus far. Despite some setbacks, the library’s involvement with the policy has positioned it to lead campus-wide conversations about open access. In addition to encouraging policy compliance, Fondren’s involvement has invited further conversations about open access and other scholarly communications issues. Further, Fondren’s experience managing an OA policy positions the library to play a large role in upcoming federal public access initiatives.