Open Access Day @ Duke

Mark your calendars for world-wide Open Access Day!  October 14, 2008 is being marked as Open Access day by three important organizations in the fight for more openness in scholarship and research — SPARC, the Public Library of Science, and Students for FreeCulture.

The big international event will be a webcast feature Noble Prize Laureate Sir Richard Roberts and Prof. Philip Bourne, the founding editor of “PLoS Computational Biology.”  This will be a wonderful opportunity to learn about the benefits of, and opportunities for open access, especially in the area of health and medical information and scholarship.  More information about the webcast, and the celebration of Open Access Day in general, is available at this website.

At Duke we also have some special events planned.  The webcast will be received in two locations — in the Medical Center Library and in the Perkins/Bostock Library.  Both opportunities will be a 7 pm, and participants will be able to ask questions of the presenters and also discuss the issues raised amongst themselves.  There will also be an event focused on local efforts — OA @ Duke — in the afternoon of October 14.  From 2 pm until 3:30 we will gather in Perkins Library 217 to here about what is being done at Duke and what opportunities are available for scholars.  Our keynote address will be by Prof. Jamie Boyle of Duke law school, and there will also be short presentations by Law Librarian Dick Danner, Dr. Ricardo Pietrobon of the Medical School faculty and Duke student Josh Sommer, a passionate and articulate spokesman for patients’ rights.  Tables will be set up in both libraries throughout the day to distribute literature and to allow view of several videos about the important role of open access to scholarship.

If you are in the vicinity of Duke on Oct. 14, please join us to learn and celebrate Open Access, at Duke and around the globe.