150  ·  Representative Documents:  Assessment Reports
FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
Open Access Week 2013 Final Report
http://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=library_faculty_publications
Florida State University Open Access Week 2013 Report
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asking them to endorse The Student Statement on the Right to Research, a general expression of
support for the principle of open access. Outreach was targeted at Registered Student Organizations
(RSOs) starting with departmental clubs and culminating with Student Government Association
(SGA) Senate and the Congress of Graduate Students (COGS).
The goal of this outreach was twofold. First, we sought to disperse advocacy efforts to heighten
awareness of Open Access Week. Rather than one or two centralized events, multiple conversations
about open access would occur in discipline-specific settings, addressing the needs of a given
audience. Second, the support of RSO’s would provide leverage for students and University Libraries
to express their support for open access to faculty and university administration.
The Student Chapter of the American Library Association (ALA) was a natural starting point for
student advocacy because equitable access is a tenet of librarianship. The Scholarly Communication
Librarian and Assistant met with ALA Student Chapter President Laura Browning, Vice President
Anastasia Meyer, and Treasurer Sarah Reeves at the Goldstein Library in late September. Their
response was enthusiastic. Additionally, a student senator, Jacob Breter, was contacted through a
library student assistant. Senator Breter agreed to sponsor a bill in Student Senate and arranged for
Micah Vandegrift to speak at the following SGA Senate meeting on Wednesday, October 9th. The
Congress of Graduate Students Speaker, Alexander Boler, was contacted directly and invited Micah
to speak to the next COGS meeting. Initial meetings were followed with an email reiterating
important points, providing links to pertinent documents and information sources, and inviting any
further questions or concerns.
Highlights

ALA Student Chapter at FSU became the 72nd organization to sign the Statement. They
shared this information on their social media, and were welcomed to the Right to Research
Coalition in a tweet.

SGA Senate unanimously passed a resolution endorsing the Statement internally. Public
endorsement by SGA President Rosalia Contreras is pending.

COGS passed a resolution endorsing the Statement internally (5 ayes, 4 nays, 3 abstentions).
Public endorsement by COGS Speaker Alexander Boler is pending.

COGS sent an official announcement outlining their endorsement to senior university
administrators, including the President and Provost.

Additional organizations have expressed interest in signing the Student Statement, including
Progress Coalition, which has working relationships with other progressive student
organizations at FSU.
3. Challenges and Opportunities
Successes

Substantial growth of repository holdings (outlined above).

Heightened awareness of open access with four stakeholder groups: undergraduates, graduate
students, faculty, and administration.

Buy-in from many new faculty members:
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