Thanks to the generosity of private donors, the Library will be showcasing UConn produced research through the newly launched Faculty-Authored Books Program.

“The enormity of research being produced here at UConn is astounding, and we are in the unique position to cross disciplines and celebrate faculty work while strengthening our collections.”

Sparked by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Book Program last spring, Dean Langley sought to continue to engage with faculty in a meaningful way, by highlighting their work and making it widely available for students, faculty, staff and the larger community. “The enormity of research being produced here at UConn is astounding, and we are in the unique position to cross disciplines and celebrate faculty work while strengthening our collections,” noted Langley.

To kick-off the program, the Library has purchased books from 2017 to present from current full-time faculty and emeriti from all campuses, including Health and Law, and has developed workflows to purchase future publications moving forward. The process will depend largely on the data created by publishers, with added eyes from our subject specialists. There will also be an opportunity for faculty to request their book be purchased via a webform.

Books costing more than $250, books with only chapters contributed by UConn faculty, and textbooks and conference proceedings will not be automatically purchased. “Our intention is not to close the door on anyone,” noted Michael Rodriguez, Collections Strategist. “We are happy to look at titles not part of our standard purchase parameters on a case-by-case basis, honoring the goals of the program while ensuring we are able to sustain it with the available funding.”

Before being integrated into the research collections, faculty-authored books will be shelved together on the new books shelf in the Homer Babbidge Library. They will offer a visual reminder of the depth and breadth of research produced at UConn. They are also easily searchable via the library catalog.

A public reception is scheduled for Wednesday, October 30th from 4-5pm in the Heritage Room on the fourth floor of Homer Babbidge Library.

Funding for the program is made possible through foundation gifts and donations of books from faculty. Learn more about the program and how you can donate.

Welcome to Open Access Week 2019! International Open Access Week, led by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), is a global, community-driven week of action to open up access to research.

Each year the Library marks Open Access Week by celebrating the ways we engage with the University to help understand and incorporate Open into classes. This year we’d like to take a moment to wish our OER guru Kathy Labadorf the best in her retirement. Kathy was UConn’s first Open Educational Resources Librarian and the point of contact for many early adopters on campus. Her shoes will be difficult to fill and we’d like to share the words of her supervisor Kate Fuller, Head of Reference & Curriculum Services . “Kathy has become a passionate advocate for making higher education more affordable through her work with open and affordable texts, working closely with student groups and faculty alike and creating a rewarding and sustainable program that will continue to enable more students to achieve great things long into the future. Her intellect, creativity, and boundless energy has been a tremendous asset to the Library and the University, and she will be missed.” Before she retired, Kathy recorded this video for the GoOpen Initiative which talks about some of the initiatives here at UConn. We look forward to continuing her good work.

This past year we hired Lauren Slingluff, Associate Dean to the staff of the Library. Lauren came to UConn in 2019 with significant experience in OER from her work at Wheaton College in Norton, MA. In her own words, “I view OER as transformational from a social justice and equity standpoint in terms of the positive impact it has on students by removing invisible hurdles in the classroom.” Lauren was selected, along with Kate Fuller, to be members of the Connecticut OER Coordinating Council, a movement of teachers, professors, students, leaders, and policy makers working to expand the use of OER across Connecticut. Lauren joined Kathy for the GoOpen Initiative and recorded two videos we encourage you to watch. Affordability and equity of OER and Faculty Flexibility.

We continue to work with faculty and researchers on publishing their work in UConn’s institutional repository, OpenCommons@UConn. Since 2005, there have been over 5.1 million downloads from 234 countries. As of today, the top article downloaded (157,327 times) is the 1990 publication, “Gender and Leadership Style: A Meta-Analysis” by Alice Eagly, formerly of Purdue University and now of Northwestern University and Blair T. Johnson, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UConn.

And when you think Open, think beyond textbooks. The Library has an incredible research collection that can also be used in the classroom. Did you know that Archives & Special Collections has over 1,200 open primary source materials over a wide range of topics such as human rights, children’s literature, CT businesses and a robust collection of papers of literary giants like Charles Olson and Edwin Way Teale to name only a few? Check it out at archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu. The Archives also supports Reveal Digital’s Independent Voices, an open access digital collection of alternative newspapers, magazines, and journals.

As part of our year-round efforts, we welcome you to join us for our workshop series’ including learning how you can utilize Creative Commons Licensing. The workshop will be held on November 5 from 12:00-1:00 in Babbidge Library. Other workshops include learning how to negotiate to keep your copyright, managing your research, and for engineers, a look at the open tools available for your work. You can learn more and register for them at workshops.lib.uconn.edu

There are a few great resources for you to look through to learn more about incorporating Open and a great place to start is our Find Open Guide. We also have a few great links on Open Access Scholarship for you to consider:
Open Library of the Humanities
SCOAP3 initiative
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB)
Open Textbook Library

Finally, this week we will also be joined by the students in UConnPIRG who will be in Homer Babbidge on Wednesday from 10:30-1:30 talking with fellow students about their grassroots efforts on campus and the importance of being involved.

We encourage you to also stop by Plaza in Homer Babbidge Library this week and pick up a sticker or a pin announcing your support of Open.

The UConn Library recently acquired permanent online access to 7 million scholarly journal articles, 3600 books, and 50 million pages of primary sources in all subjects. Unlimited access and downloads are permitted. Everything is available to all UConn, including Health and Law. 

Scholarly journals 

Scholarly ebooks 

Historical newspapers 

Primary sources 

Research databases