MIT has hired a Scholarly Publishing Consultant to advise faculty about their OA options. (Thanks to ResourceShelf.) From the announcement on the MIT Libraries News blog:
The MIT Libraries now have a half-time position supporting MIT faculty and researchers who have questions about their options and rights in the world of scholarly publishing, which has evolved dramatically with the advent of the digital age. This position has been made possible with support from the Provost’s office.
In what ways would a faculty member make use of this new position?
For example:
To ask about what rights you have over your own work, and how you can ensure that you have the rights in the future to do what you want with your work;
To gain feedback about options and rights related to archiving your work on the web, whether via a faculty home page, Dspace, or a discipline-based archive, or another means;
To discuss the options for publishing an article so that it will be openly available, without permission or subscription barriers, whether in a new open access journal or a long-standing journal; or
If you would like to discuss any of these issues, please contact Ellen Finnie Duranceau, who moved into the new position in mid September....
PS: Another great idea from MIT. Until OA is as familiar as email, every university should have something like this.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/12/2006 08:08:00 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.
