Open Access and Open Research: What can your library do for you?

Over the course of the week we’ve presented some ideas about how researchers could engage with open access and research in the coming weeks and months. We hope that you will all continue to have discussions about open research beyond Open Access Week. 

Whether you want to explore avenues for open access publications or want to share your data, the University Library offers advice and services that researchers engaging with open research may find useful. 

Research webpages: Covering a wide range of topics, offering advice on how to search literature, through to choosing where to publish, and including pages linked to below: 

Access to read and publish deals: Contemplating gold open access? The library has deals with a range of publishers to publish in journals with no cost to the author. 

Help with data management: It’s good practice to have a data management plan for your research project – most funders now require it. The Scholarly Communications Team can provide advice on what topics to cover in your plan, techniques for managing data, and what tools are available to help make the process easier. 

Help with licensing: Unsure what the difference is between a CC BY-NC and a BY-ND licence? Need to find a licence that fulfils your funder’s requirements for sharing publications? The Scholarly Communications team can provide advice and talk through the options with you. 

Information on funder policies: Funder policies are being renewed at that moment, and the library keeps track of major developments that will affect funded researchers. 

Green open access: The library manages WIRE, the University’s institutional repository for publications, which can be used to fulfil your green open access obligations. Library staff will check which version of your publication can be archived and administer any embargoes that your publisher sets. 

Training: The library arranges training workshops for all researchers in open research subjects, delivered by library staff and external organisations. It also highlights external workshops more generally that may be of interest. 

If you have any queries relating to open research, please contact wire@wlv.ac.uk. 

Stuart Bentley 

Scholarly Communications Librarian