Ixchel Faniel
Senior Research Scientist
OCLC
Molly Beisler
Professor and Director of Collections & Discovery
University of Nevada, Reno
Harriett Green
Vice Dean
The University of Arizona
Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe
Professor and Coordinator for Research Professional Development
University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Policies and funding requirements have accelerated the transition to scholarly, peer-reviewed open access (OA) publications in many countries. Academic and research libraries have been instrumental in the growth of OA publications, but studies show that publishing OA does not necessarily mean that readers will discover those publications. Academic libraries are attempting to assist with this discovery challenge but there has been limited analysis of these efforts. A recently published report, Improving Open Access Discovery for Academic Library Users, offers insights into library efforts to facilitate the discovery of OA publications at seven institutions in the Netherlands and users’ experiences with scholarly, peer-reviewed publications and OA from these same institutions. Another in-press study looks at this topic in US research libraries. In the session, these findings will serve as a catalyst to engage library leaders in a conversation about their vision for enhancing OA discoverability on their campus and the collaborative efforts underway within and across their institutions. Panelists will reflect on these issues, exploring their experiences and challenges, how they work with publishers and platforms to address discoverability, and the impacts these have on the academic library user experience. Attendees will have the opportunity to share their thoughts and engage in dialogue with the panelists.