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Seminar on Open Science, 12 May 2022

28 April 2022

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)

Charlie Molepo
Deputy Director, UFS Library Service

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

“To forgive is not an obligation. It’s a choice.” – Prof Minow during Reconciliation Lecture

2014-03-05

“To forgive is not an obligation. It’s a choice.” – Prof Minow during the Third Annual Reconciliation Lecture entitled Forgiveness, Law and Justice.
Photo: Johan Roux

No one could have anticipated the atmosphere in which Prof Martha Minow would visit the Bloemfontein Campus. And no one could have predicted how apt the timing of her message would be. As this formidable Dean of Harvard University’s Law School stepped behind the podium, a latent tension edged through the crowded audience.

“The issue of getting along after conflict is urgent.”

With these few words, Prof Minow exposed the essence of not only her lecture, but also the central concern of the entire university community.

As an expert on issues surrounding racial justice, Prof Minow has worked across the globe in post-conflict societies. How can we prevent atrocities from happening? she asked. Her answer was an honest, “I don’t know.” What she is certain of, on the other hand, is that the usual practice of either silence or retribution does not work. “I think that silence produces rage – understandably – and retribution produces the cycle of violence. Rather than ignoring what happens, rather than retribution, it would be good to reach for something more.” This is where reconciliation comes in.

Prof Minow put forward the idea that forgiveness should accompany reconciliation efforts. She defined forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to forego rightful grounds of resentment towards those who have committed a wrong. “To forgive then, in this definition, is not an obligation. It’s a choice. And it’s held by the one who was harmed,” she explained.

Letting go of resentment cannot be forced – not even by the law. What the law can do, though, is either to encourage or discourage forgiveness. Prof Minow showed how the law can construct adversarial processes that render forgiveness less likely, when indeed its intention was the opposite. “Or, law can give people chances to meet together in spaces where they may apologise and they may forgive,” she continued. This point introduced some surprising revelations about our Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Indeed, studies do report ambivalence, disappointment and mixed views about the TRC. Whatever our views are on its success, Prof Minow reported that people across the world wonder how South African did it. “It may not work entirely inside the country; outside the country it’s had a huge effect. It’s a touchstone for transitional justice.”

The TRC “seems to have coincided with, and maybe contributed to, the relatively peaceful political transition to democracy that is, frankly, an absolute miracle.” What came as a surprise to many is this: the fact that the TRC has affected transitional justice efforts in forty jurisdictions, including Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Liberia. It has even inspired the creation of a TRC in Greensborough, North Carolina, in the United States.

There are no blueprints for solving conflict, though. “But the possibility of something other than criminal trials, something other than war, something other than silence – that’s why the TRC, I think, has been such an exemplar to the world,” she commended.

Court decision cannot rebuild a society, though. Only individuals can forgive. Only individuals can start with purposeful, daily decisions to forgive and forge a common future. Forgiveness is rather like kindness, she suggested. It’s a resource without limits. It’s not scarce like water or money. It’s within our reach. But if it’s forced, it’s not forgiveness.

“It is good,” Prof Minow warned, “to be cautious about the use of law to deliberately shape or manipulate the feelings of any individual. But it is no less important to admit that law does affect human beings, not just in its results, but in its process.” And then we must take responsibility for how we use that law.

“A government can judge, but only people can forgive.” As Prof Minow’s words lingered, the air suddenly seemed a bit more buoyant.

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