As part of the open-access.network project, the second digital Staff Week on Open Access took place in December 2021. This time, the focus was on the Open Access activities of universities of applied sciences as well as universities of applied sciences and arts.
From 6 to 8 December 2021, Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Technical University of Applied Sciences and Arts Wildau provided insight into their OA activities. The Online Staff Week was organised by the Communication, Information and Media Centre (KIM) of the University of Konstanz as part of the open-access.network project. It gave 14 staff members from other libraries, mostly from universities, the opportunity to learn about best practices in the implementation of Open Access. The event format thus provided an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience and aimed to strengthen cooperation between the institutions.
Insights into the Daily OA Work at Universities of Applied Sciences (and Arts)
At universities of applied sciences (and arts) as well as at smaller research institutions, the challenges in daily OA work sometimes differ significantly from those at larger universities. It is therefore worthwhile to focus on them separately. Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau provided insightful input on the topics of funding, target group communication, self-archiving services and networking. These key topics were then discussed in depth in alternating small groups with all participants. This led to a lively exchange about everyday challenges. For example, people discussed which tools are used to manage publication costs (e.g. Excel, own wiki).
In addition to the previously defined focus topics, the participants had the opportunity on the last day to bring up their own questions and problems and discuss them with the group. Interesting arguments and valuable tips were exchanged, for example, funding possibilities for publication costs outside of a publication fund.
Personal Encounters
A central challenge of the second virtual Staff Week was to facilitate the personal encounters in the digital setting that are - in addition to the professional input - so important for the format. For this reason, the event was once again held on the Gather platform, which makes it possible to form groups of different sizes and to swap conversion partners quickly. An online whiteboard from MIRO was used as an additional collaboration tool for working together during the three days and for recording the results.
Further programme points were planned in order to foster personal exchange. A quiz was offered on the first evening and "speed dating" event on the second day. In addition, a warm-up game was held at the beginning of each day, which helped liven up the online format a bit.
"I am very grateful for the great personal contacts, so that you can exchange ideas later on," was the feedback given by the participants. We are happy to take positive feedback like this, but we also encourage constructive criticism which we can include when planning our next (probably again virtual) Staff Week, which is to take place in the course of the coming summer semester.
As part of the open-access.network project, further Open Access Staff Weeks will be held at various institutions. If you have any questions about this format, please send an email to open-access.network(at)uni-konstanz.de.