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28 April 2022
Seminar on Open Science

Publishing academic content behind a paywall not only limits access to scholarly work, but also prevents research output from being visible and making maximum impact. Researchers are paying to publish their research output, and libraries are paying to access it in what is known as double-dipping by publishers, leading to what we term ‘serial crisis’. Research institutions pay twice and still do not see their research widely available to be read.

By signing the Berlin Declaration on Open Access in 2012, the University of the Free State (UFS) committed itself to supporting open access to its research outputs. National initiatives by research institutions and the government make research outputs freely available via national site licensing. The UFS supports this initiative via the South African National Library and Information Consortium (SANLiC) as an interim transformative agreement with publishers, allowing research outputs to be open access, without the additional publication charges.

What do we do about publishers who are unwilling to transform? Do we still pay their massive subscription and publication fees? What do we need to do to ensure that all UFS research outputs are accessible to all?

Topic: Should the UFS continue to subscribe to academic journals that are behind a paywall?
Thursday 12 May 2022
12:00-13:30

Microsoft Teams
RSVP: Elma Viljoen, viljoene@ufs.ac.za (link will be provided)

Join the following top experts for what promises to be an insightful discussion:

  • Colleen Campbell
    Coordinator: Open Access 2020 Initiative
    Max Planck Digital Library, Munich, Germany
  • Ellen Tise
    Senior Director: Library and Information Services, Stellenbosch University

  • Glenn Truran
    Director: South African National Library and Information Consortium (SANLiC)

The welcoming and introduction to the webinar will be conducted by Prof Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research.  

Bios of speakers

Colleen Campbell leads external engagement in the open access transition at the Max Planck Digital Library (MPDL) in Munich, Germany. There, she coordinates the Open Access 2020 Initiative, a global alliance of research organisations and their libraries that are driving the transition of today’s scholarly journals to open-access publishing models, and the ESAC Initiative, an international community of practice dedicated to optimising open-access workflows and processes. She is a member of the LIBER Open Access Working Group, serves on the Managing Board of EIFL, a not-for-profit organisation that works with libraries to enable access to knowledge in developing and transition economy countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America, and contributes to the advisory groups of a number of other scholarly communication initiatives.

Ellen Tise has been the Senior Director of Library and Information Services at Stellenbosch University (SU) since January 2006. She previously held the positions of University Librarian at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Deputy University Librarian at the University of the Witwatersrand. She holds a BBibl Honours degree from the UWC and an MPhil in Science and Technology Studies from SU. Among other notable leadership roles, Ms Tise served as the first President of the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) from 1998 to 2002, and President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, known as IFLA, for the years 2009 through 2011. She also served as Chair of the Board of the National Library of South Africa (2012-2015), and on the OCLC Board of Trustees (2014-2018). She has just started a second two-year term as Chair of the Freedom of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression Advisory Committee of IFLA. She is the recipient of several awards for distinguished leadership and outstanding contributions to librarianship, including honorary membership of LIASA and an honorary IFLA fellowship. She has published various articles in professional journals and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences, seminars, symposia, etc.

Glenn Truran has been the Director of the South African National Library and Information Consortium (SANLiC) since 2014 and works from home in Cape Town. After graduating from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) with a BA and HDipEd (PG), he worked briefly as an educator in South Africa and England. Subsequently, he completed a diploma in Public Policy and Development Administration at Wits and received his MBA from the University of Cape Town in 2003. Before joining SANLiC, he worked in several educational and poverty alleviation non-profit organisations in Gauteng and Cape Town. He has been actively involved in SANLiC’s Open Access Transformational Agreements task team.

Charlie Molepo has been the Deputy Director at the UFS Sasol Library responsible for Research and Scholarly Communications since 2015. He represents the non-academic staff on the University Council and serves on its Finance and Human Resources Committees. Before joining the UFS, he worked at Vista University, the University of Natal, the University of Johannesburg, the University of KwaZulu-Natal Libraries, and Dawson Books UK (Betrams) as the International Account Director for Africa. He serves as President-Elect (2022-2023) in the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA).

News Archive

Intervarsity postponed to 2013
2012-03-08

The annual Intervarsity between the Universities of the Free State and North-West (NWU), which traditionally takes place in the third term, has been postponed to 2013.

The Intervarsity between the UFS and NWU is an illustrious event that has already reached the special milestone of celebrating a 70-year Intervarsity tradition. The UFS/NWU Intervarsity is also known as one of the most reckoned events on the local and national sports and student calendars, and it is widely supported.
 
Representatives from both universities could for a variety of reasons not decide on a date which suited both universities.
 
The respective Intervarsity committees and senior managers of both universities have also taken the interests of the respective university communities and alumni of the institutions into account and have decided to postpone the 70th-year celebration of Intervarsity by a year in order to be able to celebrate the milestone properly.
 
The UFS would have received the NWU in Bloemfontein this year and will therefore host the 70-year celebrations of the event next year as well.
 
Mr Rudi Buys, Dean: Student Affairs at the UFS has expressed his gratitude for the fact that both universities are committed to a special celebration of the Intervarsity tradition in 2013.
 
“The celebration of the 70th Intervarsity between the two institutions will be an important milestone to commemorate decades of friendship, collaboration and healthy competition. Therefore we welcome this opportunity to plan a bigger and better programme for 2013,” he said.
 
The UFS-NWU 70-YEAR Intervarsity firstly aims to establish the programme as a proud example for both universities, where students and staff can pit their strengths against one another in a healthy manner.
 
The aim is to extend Intervarsity to various sections of the respective university communities to enable more students to participate. For instance, more sports codes will be added to the traditional competition on the rugby, soccer, netball and hockey fields, whilst various events focusing on arts and culture, i.e. choral singing and debating competitions, as well as dialogue between student leaders, will take place as part of the programme. All campuses of the two universities will participate in the programmes.
 
Students are even investigating the possibility of electronic competitions such as on-line games as part of the Intervarsity
 
During the Intervarsity last year, several new possibilities were already tested to ensure that the 70th anniversary would be a huge success.
 
The Central Intervarsity Committee of the UFS has decided to replace the Intervarsity 2012 programme with an INTRA-varsity programme between its respective campuses. For this occasion, various sports, arts and culture, and leadership events between the Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses are planned, and the Central University of Technology might be invited as well to participate as guests in some programmes.

Media Release
8 March 2012
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za


 

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