DWLresearch

Open access at Leicester International OA week  The wrap up of the International Open Access Week 2017 is a perfect occasion to give you an update on Open Access (OA) related activities at University of Leicester accompanied with fun statistics (as fun as statistics can be!). During the Open Access week the University Open Access and Research Data Team ran a series of pop-up stalls at various locations across the main campus as well as in hospital sites (RKCSB & Glenfield), offering advice on raising the discoverability of research profiles. Also as part of the celebrations we have launched a completely redesigned OA website. Visit www.le.ac.uk/openaccess to explore the essential guidance how to make your research outputs OA. Fig.1. Main page of new, redesigned Open Access website ( www.le.ac.uk/openaccess ) The outreach campaign was in addition to routine talks and tailored training sessions that the team provides for departments across the University every y...

Just over a year ago at the University of Leicester Library, we were looking at the download stats for our online PhD theses and noticed that a study of the village of Wrangle in the early modern period was the most downloaded item that month. This got us thinking. Of all the open access theses and research publications in our online archive what is actually popular with users? Medicine and health related items do well, presumably from people searching for information on illnesses and conditions. The other studies that consistently attract downloads are those about a particular place. Broadly speaking these are from geography, archaeology and history. Open access policy has been driven by the sciences and has tended to assume that freely available publications are an unproblematic ‘good thing’. It has paid less attention to what is popular, with whom and why. Inspired by the example of Wrangle, we decided to explore creating a new resource to promote the open access local...

The Doctoral College Reading Room, at the front of the first floor of the library, is now designed for use by PGR students and staff only. The space includes a separate Silent Study area with desks and computers, a quiet area with desks and informal seating, and a bookable group study room. We would encourage PGR students and staff to make full use of this space. Masters students now have a separate Graduate Reading Room elsewhere on the first floor. As part of the new arrangements there is now a Consultation Room, which we are also using for upcoming events, including Shut Up & Write! and Research Data Drop-in Clinics. ***** *****