Taking Stock: Organizing Open Access Operations Based on Researcher Practices

In 2017, the members of the Scholarly Communication Initiatives (SCI) Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) developed a strategic goal for the department to “create organizational shift” at UNLV in regard to improving campus-wide knowledge of and support for open access (OA). One method by which to work toward this multi-year goal was to gain additional insight about UNLV faculty members’ support of OA by assessing their participation in OA publishing and repositories. Through direct conversations with faculty, information gleaned through liaison librarians, and questions about the IR and related services, it was clear there was already interest in OA. However, it is difficult to gauge interest at the department, college, or university level based on ad-hoc contacts alone. Understanding participation in OA at a broader organizational level could help create the desired organizational shift, via improved outreach efforts. This paper proposes that improved understanding about existing local OA practices can provide useful and strategic information for OA operational planning. It demonstrates the use of research databases, selected subject repositories, and the institutional repository, to identify local OA practices. These data inform operations through identification of potential OA advocates, and new audiences to include in OA outreach.