By Louisa Lam*
(2 November 2016) The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Library held the first CUHK Open Access Day on 24 October 2016 to promote open access on the campus. The theme was Open in Action – Enhancing Research Impact @ CUHK AIMS. AIMS is CUHK’s new Academic Information Management System for managing its research outputs and will be launched in November 2016. Open Access Day shared with the university community the benefits of opening research through AIMS and the institutional repository Research Portal. This event is also one of the programs of the International Open Access Week 2016 that commenced on the same day.
The opening ceremony was officiated by Professor Benjamin W. Wah, Provost of CUHK, Professor Fanny M.C. Cheung, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK, Professor Lutz-Christian Wolff, Dean of the Graduate School of CUHK, Professor Walter K.K. Ho, Director of the Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer Services of CUHK, and Ms. Louise Jones, University Librarian of CUHK. At the ceremony, the padlock of the open access lock, the logo of Open Access, was unlocked signifying that CUHK embraces open access.
The opening ceremony was then followed by A Dialogue between the Provost and University Librarian – Open Access in Action in which Professor Wah shared his perspectives as a distinguished researcher and administrator on different issues of open access and Ms. Jones provided her librarian’s perspective on the issue.
Professor Wah started the dialogue with his journey to open access, the benefits of open access from the point of view of publishers, editors and librarians and reiterated the importance of open access though there was still a long way to go before full open access is achieved. He also commented on the pros and cons of open access journals, the copyright issues in social networks like academia.edu and ResearchGate and the view of the University Grants Committee on open access and open research data, and shared the reasons motivating the University to launch AIMS and the Research Portal, which is a step forward for CUHK.
There was also discussion on the challenge of depositing full text into the Research Portal and what the Library can offer to help researchers to do so. The dialogue ended with remarks on the essential role played by the Library as well as other units of the University to make open access a reality and to make research information more useful to researchers.
The opening ceremony and the Dialogue were broadcasted live on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CUHKLibraries); you can also access the recording at http://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/about/news/rsdi-oaday2016.
The Open Access Day began with an exhibition on International Open Access Movement and AIMS, hands-on trial of AIMS, and two talks in the morning by Taylor & Francis, and Cambridge University Press, two distinguished publishers that have launched open access journals.
The afternoon started with a panel discussion by Professor Chi Tim Lai, Professor of the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies of the Faculty of Arts of CUHK, Professor Jyh-An Lee, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Law of CUHK, Professor Edmund Anthony Severn Nelson, Clinical Professional Consultant of the Department of Paediatrics of the Faculty of Medicine of CUHK, and Professor C. M. Jimmy Yu, Head of the United College and Professor of the Department of Chemistry of the Faculty of Science of CUHK.
Titled as Open Access in Different Perspectives – Experience Sharing with CUHK Faculty, the Faculty discussed the benefits open access will bring to researchers especially in the digital environment. At this point, Professor Lai highlighted how the digitized Daoist texts at CUHK Digital Repository have helped Daoist research. The discussion also covered the issues the Faculties are most concerned about including copyright, the article processing fee of open access journals and the considerations researchers will take in publishing in either traditional closed access journals or new open access journals. The Faculties also shared their perspectives on the difficulties of implementing open access at the University and the role the Library can play to support this global initiative. The recording is available at YouTube and via the Library website: http://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/about/news/rsdi-oaday2016.
This experience sharing session was followed by a webinar presentation by Mr. Aaron Tay, Library Analytics & Research Librarian of Singapore Management University Library, on Repositories – institutional, subject and social – conflict or connectivity? which served to conclude the Open Access Day. He shared the librarian’s point of view on how these different types of repositories complement each other and the strategies the library can take to encourage the use of institutional repositories such as the CUHK Research Portal. This session was broadcast live on YouTube and can be accessed on the Library website: http://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/about/news/rsdi-oaday2016.
Open access is a complex issue. The Open Access Day is the first attempt the Library has made to start discussion of this issue on the campus. With CUHK embracing open access, it will gradually establish a foothold at the University.
Officiating Guests at the opening ceremony of CUHK Open Access Day 2016 (from left to right) Ms. Louise Jones, University Librarian of CUHK, Professor Fanny M.C. Cheung, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK, Professor Benjamin W. Wah, Provost of CUHK, Professor Walter K.K. Ho, Director of the Office of Research and Knowledge Transfer Services of CUHK, and Professor Lutz-Christian Wolff, Dean of the Graduate School of CUHK.
Professor Benjamin W. Wah, Provost of CUHK, sharing his views on open access with Louise Jones , University Librarian of CUHK.
Four CUHK Faculty shared their experience on open access (From left to right) Dr. Louisa Lam, Head of Research Support & Digital Initiatives of CUHK, moderator, Professor Chi Tim Lai, Professor of Department of Cultural and Religious Studies of the Faculty of Arts of CUHK, Professor Jyh-An Lee, Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Law of CUHK, Professor C. M. Jimmy Yu, Head of the United College and Professor of the Department of Chemistry of the Faculty of Science of CUHK, Professor Edmund Anthony Severn Nelson, Clinical Professional Consultant of the Department of Paediatrics of the Faculty of Medicine of CUHK.
Mr. Aaron Tay, Library Analytics & Research Librarian of Singapore Management University Library, discussed different types of repositories in his webinar.
*Dr. Louisa Lam is Head of Research Support & Digital Initiatives, CUHK Library.
