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Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies News

Purdue Libraries Celebrates Open Access Week Oct. 21 to 27 with Open Education and Research Events, Journal Editors’ Group Tea

October 7th, 2013

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — Purdue University Libraries will celebrate Open Access Week – Oct. 21 to 27, 2013 – with three key events including an Open Education Event presented by David Ernst, University of Minnesota; Journal Editors’ Group Tea; and Open Research Event presented by Victoria Stodden, Columbia University. Awards will also be presented to key faculty members for their commitment and contributions to the advancement of Open Access at Purdue University.  A live web stream of the presentations on Oct. 23 and Oct. 25 can be found at the following URL: http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/pvhfc.

“Open Access” to information – the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need – has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted. It has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for society as a whole.

Open Access (OA) has the potential to maximize research investments, increase the exposure and use of published research, facilitate the ability to conduct research across available literature, and enhance the overall advancement of scholarship. Research funding agencies, academic institutions, researchers and scientists, teachers, students, and members of the general public are supporting a move towards Open Access in increasing numbers every year. Open Access Week is a key opportunity for all members of the community to take action to keep this momentum moving forward.

 OPEN ACCESS WEEK EVENT DETAILS

Wednesday, October 23: 2:00 – 3:30 pm, STEW 314. Open Education Event

Title: Open Textbooks and Educational Resources: New Approaches to Affordable Education

Speaker: David Ernst, University of Minnesota

Sponsor: Co-sponsored by Purdue Libraries and Purdue Student Government.

 [Note: This event will commence with the presentation of an Open Access (Education) Award by Dr. A. Dale Whittaker, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs. It will be presented this year to Dr. Linda S. Bergmann, Director of the Online Writing Lab (OWL), which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2013. Now featuring over 300 reference and instructional materials, all made freely available online, OWL has established itself as one of the premier Open Educational Resources on the web. After the presentation, James L. Mullins, Dean of Libraries, will introduce the speaker.]

 Abstract: High college costs will keep as many as 2.4 million low and moderate-income college-qualified high school graduates from attending college during this decade. For those who do attend college, financial stresses are the main reason that 46 percent of students do not graduate with any credential within six years. College textbook and course material expenses are a significant part of college costs. The College Board estimates that the average student paid $1,200 on books and course materials during the 2012-13 academic year. These high costs put student success at risk.

  Dr. David Ernst will describe efforts in the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development to improve college access, affordability, and success by reducing the impact of textbook and course material costs for students. Dr. Ernst spent the last two years identifying barriers to the adoption of open textbooks and finding ways to help institutions and faculty overcome those barriers. He created the Open Academics textbook catalog (http://open.umn.edu) in April, 2012, as a single source for faculty to find open textbooks. The catalog has had over 70,000 visits from instructors in 173 countries. Dr. Ernst will also describe the Digital Course Pack project, which leveraged digital content already-licensed by the Libraries to create digital course packs that were free or reduced cost for students. Lastly, Dr. Ernst will explain how all schools can reduce textbook and course materials costs by leveraging the same tools successfully used by the University of Minnesota.

 Bio: Dr. David Ernst is the Chief Information Officer in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. He brings his extensive background in education to his role, including 14 years of teaching and a PhD in Learning Technologies. His passion lies in developing innovations that help faculty teach and students learn. David is also the Executive Director of the Open Academics Textbook Initiative. This program works to improve higher education access, affordability, and success for all students through the use of open textbooks. David created and manages the Open Academics textbook catalog (http://open.umn.edu) – a single source for faculty to find quality openly licensed textbooks. David and his colleagues are also developing a toolkit to help other institutions interested in starting their own open textbook initiative on campus.

 Thursday, October 24, 3:00 – 4:00 pm, PMU East Faculty Lounge. Journal Editors’ Group Tea

 Would you like to learn more about open access? Are you interested in sustainable business models for journal publishing? Are you concerned about predatory open access publishers? If so, join the Purdue Journal Editors’ Group for its fall meeting. Refreshments will be served.

 When: Thursday, October 24th, 3:00-4:00pm

Where: East Faculty Lounge, Purdue Memorial Union

 The meeting will be discussion-based. RSVPs are not necessary, but are appreciated – please email Becky Bunch at rsbunch@purdue.edu if you plan to attend.

  The Editors’ Group is open to Purdue faculty, staff, and students who edit journals or proceedings, or serve on editorial boards.

 Friday, October 25: 9 – 10:30 am, LWS 1142. Open Research Event

 Title: Scientific Reproducibility: Opportunities and Challenges for Open Research Data and Code

 Speaker: Victoria Stodden, Columbia University

 Sponsor: Co-sponsored by Purdue Libraries and the Cyber Center in Discovery Park

  [Note: This event will commence with the presentation of an Open Access (Research) Award by Dr. S. Laurel Weldon, Interim Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.  It will be presented this year to Dr. Mark S. Lundstrom, Don and Carol Scifres Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and founding director of the Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN). The award is presented in recognition of Dr. Lundstrom’s leadership in creating NanoHUB, a radical departure from traditional forms of scholarly communication in nanotechnology with a strongly open access character. Annually, nearly 250,000 users in 172 countries access over 3,000 resources from more than 1,000 authors for research and education, including over 250 simulation tools. After the presentation, James L. Mullins, Dean of Libraries, will introduce the speaker.]

 Abstract:  It is now widely recognized that the traditional published article is insufficient to permit verification of computational results. The emergence of powerful computational hardware combined with vast data collection and storage capabilities presents many novel opportunities for researchers. Unfortunately current standards for communication of published computational findings make verification and validation next to impossible. A movement toward reproducible research – dissemination that includes sufficient experimental details such that results can be replicated by others in the field, i.e. the code and the data – has developed in many disciplines and research areas to address this shortcoming in research communication. In this talk Dr. Stodden will explore the problem and address solutions emerging from researchers and institutions, federal policy efforts, and journal publication standards.

 Bio: Victoria Stodden is an assistant professor of Statistics at Columbia University whose research centers on the multifaceted problem of enabling reproducibility in computational science. This includes studying adequacy and robustness in replicated results, designing and implementing validation systems, developing standards of openness for data and code sharing, and resolving legal and policy barriers to disseminating reproducible research.  Her work has resulted in platforms and tools such as SparseLab, RunMyCode.org, and the Reproducible Research Standard. Stodden is a member of the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee on Cyberinfrastructure, the Mathematics and Physical Sciences Directorate Subcommittee on Support for the Statistical Sciences at NSF, the National Academies of Science committee on Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process, and several committees in the American Statistical Association. She completed her PhD in Statistics and her law degree at Stanford University, and her Erdös Number is 3.