To celebrate Open Access Week, the Duke Library has an exhibit in the Research Commons with information from the Right to Research Coalition a student-run group made up of 77 college student organizations who are committed to open access and have signed the Student Statement on the Right to Research. A part of the exhibit is a blackboard with the question “What would you like to know about open access?” Responses included:
“What is it?”
“What is open access?”
“Why do we need to know?”
Open Access literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. It is freely available to anyone in the world with an Internet connection – no subscription necessary.
So what? Why is that important? According to the Right to Research Coalition website: “it’s no secret that academic journals are crucial to our research, our papers, and our understanding of both fine details and the larger, overall picture of everything we study. Yet, students often run into access barriers while to trying to do research, forcing us to settle for what we can get access to, rather than what we need most.” Open Access seeks to alleviate this problem, by making research openly available and accessible to those who need it.
Learn more about the Right to Research Coalition by visiting the Libraries’ exhibit and exploring their website: http://www.righttoresearch.org/index.shtml