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From the Desk of Dean Schmand
As we continue into another new academic year, I thought it valuable to share some examples of the integral work Walker Library is doing relative to open access, open scholarship, and open educational resources. Throughout this issue, you will have the opportunity to explore several of our significant initiatives and learn more about the positive impact on students and faculty.
Specific actions led to our engagement with all things open. In 2014, Walker Library implemented a few new strategic services to support and deliver freely available scholarly content. Digital Scholarship Initiatives (DSI) manages and facilitates access to Journals@MTSU, which now hosts 12 open-access journals on its site.
JEWLScholar@MTSU , the institutional repository, was created to provide access to scholarly and research material produced by MTSU faculty, staff, and students. Users can search for theses and dissertations, campus newsletters and magazines, data, and more. Interested in finding an older issue of the Sidelines student newspaper? You can view issues back to December 1938. DSI recently expanded to include MT Open Press, an exciting endeavor resulting in two published open access books with more to come. Digital Collections, largely image-based, continue to grow and share more unique content with students and researchers alike.
As you can imagine, the cost of scholarly information increases annually. Each year, the library seeks creative ways to maximize its purchasing power while ensuring faculty and students have access to pertinent resources.
A traditional publishing model would show a faculty member submitting their scholarly article to an established publisher. They would sign over their copyright, and the publisher would sell it back as part of a database or journal package to the faculty member’s institution. Open access is changing the business model for publishing and facilitating greater access to scholarly content.
In 2020, MTSU received a $100,000 grant from the Tennessee Board of Regents to implement an open educational resources (OER) program . Why was this important to accomplish? Read on in this issue to learn more about what OER materials encompass and how they support affordable education and academic success for all MTSU students.
To continue supporting open access and open scholarship (shared and freely available research information), MTSU joined the Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship (HELIOS Open) in 2021. This group provides an excellent community of colleges and universities working to advance the widespread sharing of scholarly data and activities.
The future is bright for Walker Library and MTSU. We continue to advance services and spaces that support students and faculty in their learning, teaching, and research. I know that there are more changes ahead of us, and I am looking forward to seeing what we can do better for the MTSU community.
