30th March 2023, 2.30pm-4.15pm BST
(15.30-17.15 CET)
Webinar hosted by Gold Leaf, sponsored by De Gruyter
We would like to invite our readers to the new 2023 webinar series “Challenging the Status Quo: Taking Libraries into the Future”, run by Gold Leaf and sponsored by De Gruyter.
This webinar explores the knotty world of Open Access books. In principle, most people agree that OA books are a “good thing”; but the associated issues are complex for everyone in the Scholarly Communications industry.
Speakers include Niels Stern, Director of OAPEN, who will give the keynote; Wilhelm Widmark, Library Director at the University of Stockholm and Assistant Director of BIBSAM; and Sarah Thompson, Head of Content and Open Access Librarian at the University of York.
The webinar is the first of a series sponsored by De Gruyter and will be moderated by Linda Bennett of Gold Leaf. Registration is free of charge.
For more details and to book your place on the seminar, click here.
Who should attend
The webinar will be very inclusive. It will be of interest to librarians, including student librarians, information scientists, funders, publishers, academics interested in Open Access and anyone involved in the current period of rapid change in the library and publishing industries.
The series
In this new De Gruyter Webinar Series, we invite library & information scientists, researchers, and industry experts to share their insights and wisdom into latest developments, emerging trends and best practices in the library and publishing services.
Agenda
15.30-15.35 Introduction and Welcome
Andrea Gregor-Adams, Marketing Manager EMEA, De Gruyter
15.35-16.05 Free the Books!
Keynote talk: Niels Stern, Director of OAPEN
16.05-16.45 Librarian Panel session
Two panellists will each speak for 10 – 15 minutes, followed by Q & A
Selling Open Access for books to the country.
Wilhelm Widmark, Library Director, University of Stockholm; Vice-Chairman of BIBSAM
At the coal face: the acquisition and payment issues
Sarah Thompson, Head of Content and Open Access, University of York
16.45-17.10 Plenary Session: What next?
The three speakers and the audience will be invited to discuss what the future will bring for Open
Access for books and share their hopes and concerns.
17.10-17.15 Wrap-up
Niels Stern is director of OAPEN. He began his career in scholarly book publishing in 2003. In this capacity he became a co-founder of the OAPEN project in 2008. Since 2014 Niels Stern has also acted as independent expert for the European Commission on open science and e-infrastructures. Leaving publishing for a few years, he joined the Royal Danish Library in 2017 as director of licensing for five universities and chief negotiator for the national licence consortium.
Wilhelm Widmark is the Library Director of Stockholm University since 2012. Since 2020 he is also Senior Adviser for Open Science to the President of Stockholm University. He has a Master of Arts in Literature and a Master of Arts in Library and information science from Uppsala University. Wilhelm is active in the Open Science movement in Sweden and Europe. He is the Vice-Chairman of the Swedish Bibsam consortia and a member of the Swedish Rectors conference Open Science group. He is also a member of EUAs Expert Group on Open Science and one of the Directors of EOSC Association. During the years he has been a member of several publishers Library Advisory Boards. In year 2016 he got an assignment from the president to start an Open Access academic press for books and journals at Stockholm University. Stockholm University Press was created in 2017 and has published more than 50 Open Access books and host 12 journals. He is also the publisher of Stockholm University Press. Wilhelm is a well-known speaker at both national and international conferences.
Sarah Thompson is Assistant Director for Library, Archives and Learning Services at the University of York, where she has responsibility for Content and Open Research. She takes an active role in the RLUK Collection Strategy Network and in the White Rose Libraries Partnership, and is a member of the White Rose University Press Management Board. She also participates in a number of different national and international consortia groups and publisher and supplier advisory boards.
Sarah has strategic oversight of the Library’s content budget for both paywalled and open access content, and is steering a gradual transition towards the latter. This is being achieved by the Library financially supporting different models of open access monograph publishing; for example, it has signed up to a number of diamond open access monograph initiatives and has recently created an institutional OA fund which pays book processing charges (BPCs). She is also involved in White Rose University Press, which is a non-profit, open access digital publisher of peer-reviewed academic journals and books, run jointly by the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York.
Gold Leaf 