OER News
- Open Content BlogIt is a blog written and maintained by David Wiley who is an Academic Chief Office of Lumen Learning. The blog updates news and post critical thoughts about OER.
Easy Start
What is Open Access? Check out the video below for an introduction.
What You Need to Know
According to Peter Suber's Open Access, there are two points to understand Open Access (OA).
- "The basic idea of Open Access (OA) is simple: Make research literature available online without price barriers and without most permission barriers".
- "OA literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions". refers specifically to scholarly output in digital format being feely accessible to the public via the Internet".
In general, the OA movement is in response to the increase of information access barriers. These barriers are largely tied to the cost of journal and database subscriptions, as it pertains to the growing inconsistency between cost and funding. Not only is this a central driving force behind OA’s efforts to reach larger academic audiences and improve scholarly communication, but it is matter of fact that library funding cannot keep pace with subscription cost increases, which would otherwise ultimately negatively impact students, researchers, institutions, and the public at large.
Research Assistance
Librarians can help you learn to make the most of the information resources, tools, and services of Murphy Library and beyond!
Weekdays & Sunday afternoons (fall/spring):
Any time (year-round):
- Email us -- we'll email you back asap
- Schedule an appointment (in-person or online)
Local history and/or archives research? Special Collections / Area Research Center specialists are available!
- Email us at specoll@uwlax.edu
- Call us at 608.785.8511
OA Terms
Gold OA: OA through journals regardless of the journal's business model
Green OA: OA delivered by repositories
Gratis OA: Access is free of charge, but not necessarily free of copyright and licensing. It moves price barriers, but not permission barriers. Users still need to seek permission to exceed fair use
Libre OA: Free of charge and also free of some copyright and licensing restrictions
Repository: a repository is an online database of OA works