Open Access Week
About Open Access Week
Happy Open Access week everybody. We’re delighted to be able to share with you the not insubstantial work that has taken place since we marked this event last year.
Open Access Roundtable – partners from across the health sector come together
HEE, in partnership with NIHR, hosted a very successful Open Access Roundtable on 1st October with senior stakeholders across the whole health and social care system, such as NICE, PHE, and the Local Government Association (LGA), as well as research organisations including the UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and Health Research Authority (HRA).
Initially intended to be a face to face event in London, we were delighted to still welcome 29 representatives for a rich discussion with much expertise in the virtual room. It’s clear that by working together we have a stronger negotiating position with publishers for the benefit of the NHS.
Independent consultants, Information Power Ltd, helped us to plan and deliver this roundtable, gathering key quantitative and qualitative information on current publication and journal procurement practices in the NHS to share with participants to inform the discussion. This included information gleaned from two focus groups with health librarians to understand your roles and views in relation open access in addition to interviews with researchers.
Open Access is a hugely complex area, but the roundtable clearly generated energy and a commitment to tackle this together; beginning with a shared strategy, and in considering an open sharing platform.
We will share the full report in due course.
The Open Access Community of Practice
Our Open Access CoP continues to grow strong with 50 members from across the health library community in the NHS, in addition to PHE and the Kings Fund.
You don’t need to a Repository Pro to join, anyone with an interest in this area is welcome to join and participate at whatever level of engagement suits them.
Our Repositories Working group also launched this year, with thanks to Cate Newell, Library & Knowledge Services Manager at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, for chairing this. The group is currently looking to re-run the Repositories survey so that we can update our toolkit.
NHS Shared Repository Pilot with the British Library
We are currently discussing an exciting project with the British Library, to pilot a shared NHS repository. To be funded by HEE, we hope to invite 5 organisations to participate in this initiative. Watch this space for more information!
For more information, please contact Helene Gorring, Library & Knowledge Development Manager, London, Kent, Surrey & Sussex.