Dartmouth Libraries’ Health Sciences and Biomedical Libraries Host a Series of Events for Open Access Week 2023
Dartmouth Libraries’ Health Sciences and Biomedical Libraries recently hosted a series of talks and a film screening for International Open Access Week 2023.
I want to disseminate work as widely as possible and feel privileged to be in an environment that supports open access funding. - Brock Christensen
One event delved into the implications of Open Access Publishing - the benefits and the challenges - with a discussion hosted by associate director for Health Sciences and Biomedical Libraries Michele Whitehead. She joined panelists Elizabeth Carpenter-Song, Brock Christensen, Nena Mason, and Bill Nelson.
The panel considered equity in information access, navigating solicitations from journals and publishers, the growing list of requirements from major funding agencies like the NIH and NSF, and more. The discussion widened continuing conversations about what open access means locally for amplifying Geisel and Dartmouth’s research impact worldwide.
A major takeaway from this session was how Open Access Publishing demonstrably broadens access to research, particularly in the medical and public health spheres, for communities who most benefit from that research. Dr Carpenter-Song shared that her overall motivation as a medical anthropologist doing community-based work is a “core sense of responsibility to share that information. There's an ethical imperative to do that, particularly for those who helped make my work possible.”
Dr Nelson followed that sentiment by sharing how Open Access Publishing makes research available to rural healthcare professionals in regions he says need it most. “It’s about equitable access. And when I argue for that in my proposals, I receive affirmative responses in support. Similarly, the National Rural Health Association supports the idea of books being available without a paywall blocking access.”
To have equitable access, barriers to accessing research must be removed. And that’s what the panelists all want. “I want to disseminate work as widely as possible and feel privileged to be in an environment that supports open access funding…Personally, I find it annoying that I can't immediately get what I'm interested in reading when it's not open access,” said Dr Christensen.
Providing wider dissemination of “good and important work is synergistic with the College’s mission to be a global environment in a global teaching setting - to reach new readers and communities worldwide is part of our overall vision,” said Dr Nelson.
