The Open Access Directory (OAD), a Wiki hosted by Simmons College, celebrated its first anniversary on April 30. Under OAD, community contributors create and maintain simple, factual lists about open access (OA) to science and scholarship. Launched in 2008 and operated entirely by an international corps of volunteers, the OAD grew from six to 40 lists and has served more than 250,000 unique users.
The resource was designed by Robin Peek, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, and Peter Suber, Research Professor of Philosophy at Earlham College, Visiting Fellow at Yale Law School, and Senior Researcher at SPARC.
The OAD will serve as a central component in the programme for the upcoming Open Access Week (October 19 to 23, 2009), which will feature educational resources that local hosts can use to customise events to suit local audiences and time zones. Two sample programme tracks, highlighting 'Author's rights and author addenda - For researchers,' and 'Institutional Advantages from Open Access - For administrators,' have been released for participants to use to design or inspire their plans for the week.
Sample tracks point first to OASIS (the Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook), which delivers resources for multiple constituencies and awareness levels. Both OAD and OASIS resources are community-driven tools that invite registered users to expand and refine available content. The organisers of Open Access Week invite feedback on the sample tracks as well as contributions to OASIS and the OAD. Additional sample tracks will be developed with advice from registered Open Access Week participants.
