Source: Beth Turtle, 785-532-2830, bturtle@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Donna F. Ekart, 785-532-7452, dfe@k-state.edu

Monday, Oct. 11, 2010

K-STATE LIBRARIES CELEBRATE OPEN ACCESS WEEK

MANHATTAN -- K-State Libraries will be taking part in the international celebration of Open Access Week with a variety of activities Oct. 18-24. Events will take place in Kansas State University's Hale Library, and are all free and open to the public.

Highlights of the week include an open forum and a lecture.

The open forum will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 19, on the second floor of Hale Library. Invited speakers will talk briefly about what open access means, new publishing business models, open source textbooks, open sharing of research results, and how new media encourage open engagement and participation. Three K-State faculty members and one K-State student will speak, and the forum is structured to allow audience members to come and go. Questions and discussion during and after the presentations are encouraged.

Scheduled to present are:

* Michael Wesch, associate professor of cultural anthropology. Wesch explores the effects of new media on society and culture. The 2008 national professor of the year for doctoral and research universities, Wesch has received Wired magazine's Rave Award and was named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic.

* Christopher Sorensen, a university distinguished professor and Cortelyou-Rust distinguished professor of physics. Sorensen, who also served as a Coffman Chair for University Distinguished Teaching Scholars, was the 2007 national professor of the year for doctoral and research universities. He recently chaired K-State's Research Infrastructure Task Force.

* Dale Askey, e-publishing librarian and director of the New Prairie Press, a digital open-access imprint sponsored by K-State Libraries.

* Danny Unruh, senior in food science and industry and political science, K-State student body president.

Molly Kleinman will present "The Beauty of Some Rights Reserved: An Introduction to Copyright, Publishing and Creative Commons" at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, in the Hale Library's Hemisphere Room. Her talk will focus on the impact of copyright law on the professional lives of faculty, researchers, librarians and students, who are all users and creators of copyrighted material. It will provide an introduction to common copyright issues and the Creative Commons concept. Kleinman is the special assistant to the dean of libraries at the University of Michigan, a strong advocate of Creative Commons, and an experienced educator in copyright issues.

"This is our second year participating in Open Access Week, and we've tried to include something to interest everyone," said Beth Turtle, department head for scholarly communications and publishing at K-State Libraries. "In addition to the forum and lecture, we'll have a series of posts on our library blog, Talking in the Library, at http://ksulib.typepad.com/talking, and via our Twitter account at http://twitter.com/kstatelibraries, so those who aren't able to participate in person can still participate virtually.

"Open access to information is such an important issue for everyone -- from the researcher who needs the most current access to major research findings to everyday people who want to download images, read books or research the medical literature without restrictions or barriers," she said.

Open Access Week is an international celebration among libraries and other research institutions organized by The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. For more information about the week, contact Turtle at 785-532-2830 or bturtle@k-state.edu.