From 2 to 4 July 2024, staff from various libraries across Germany met at the KIT Library at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) for the Open Access Staff Week. Together with the BMBF-funded project open-access.network, the hosts organised a varied programme with exciting input and space for exchange and networking in a pleasant and constructive atmosphere.
"Looking into each other's cooking pots"
KIT Library Director Dr Arne Upmeier took the opportunity to welcome the guests personally and established the unofficial motto of the event: "Openness means: trust to let us glance into each other's cooking pots in order to learn from each other". This motto was brought to life during six content sessions and a tour of the library. Employees of the KIT library presented the in-house publishing service KIT Scientific Publishing and the repository KITopen, gave deep insights into their publication fund, discussed Open Science and research data management with the participants and, using the example of the Diamond Thinking project, how libraries can support scientists in publishing Diamond Open Access journals or series themselves. The programme was rounded off with an open session in which participants could discuss their own topics and questions with the plenum. Being actively involved in all sessions and contributing valuable experience and reports from their own practice, the participants not only looked into each other's cooking pots, but also exchanged recipes. After the end of the official programme, a tour of the city and dinner together provided plenty of opportunity to delve deeper into the content and continue networking.
Further Staff Weeks planned
The sixth Open Access Staff Week in total also met with great interest and was rated exceptionally positively - which was certainly also due to the professional organisation by the colleagues on site, who offered all participants a friendly welcome, plenty of food and a feel-good atmosphere throughout. Two more Staff Weeks are planned for 2024 and 2025, which will be announced here and in the event calendar. If you are interested in organising these at your institution or have any questions about the specific event or format, please send an email to open-access.network(at)uni-konstanz.de.