Open Access Week 2021

According to the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), open access:

• is the free, immediate, online availability of research articles coupled with the rights to use these articles fully in the digital environment
• ensures that anyone can access and use these results—to turn ideas into industries and breakthroughs into better lives
• is the needed modern update for the communication of research that fully utilizes the internet for what it was originally built to do—accelerate research

Find out more in our Open Access LibGuide!

The 2021 Open Access Week’s theme will be “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.”

UTA Libraries invites you to explore the benefits of Open Access. The OA Week is a time for the wider community to coordinate in taking action to make openness the default for research and to ensure that equity is at the center of this work. Diversity, equity, and inclusion must be consistently prioritized year-round and integrated into the fabric of the open community, from how our infrastructure is built to how we organize community discussions to the governance structures we use.

The OA Week is an important opportunity to catalyze new conversations, create connections across and between communities that can facilitate this co-design, and advance progress to build more equitable foundations for opening knowledge—discussions and actions that need to be continued, year in and year out.

Rebecca Mauldin, PhD, LMSW, studies social connectedness. She focuses on the social relationships of older adults, the factors that support them forming and maintaining positive relationships, and the ways in which their relationships affect their health, well-being, and access to vital resources and information. In addition, she uses social network analysis to investigate human and organizational networks and their role in contributing to individual and community well-being. She teaches research methods to undergraduate and graduate social work students and is passionate about using and developing open educational resources. Rebecca serves on the board of Sixty and Better, an aging services organization in Fort Worth, Texas that empowers older adults to live with purpose, independence, and dignity. She earned her doctorate in Social Work from the University of Houston, a Master in Social Work from the University of Houston, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Katie Willeford is currently serving as the Learning Resources Librarian at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. She has presented workshops on OER and led efforts to increase instructor knowledge on copyright, student success, and course material affordability. She also oversees the course reserves program at UTA Libraries. Katie attended the University of North Texas where she completed her M.L.S. with a Music Librarianship specialization.

Yumi Ohira is currently serving as the Digital Publishing & Repository Librarian at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Ohira joined the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries in April 2019. Matters related to scholarly communications and open access are part of her portfolio. Previously, Ohira worked at University of Nebraska at Omaha as the Digital Initiatives Librarian, followed by her first career as a librarian, the Digital Curation Librarian, at Fort Hays State University, Kansas. Ohira is originally from Japan where she received a B.S. in Applied Physics from Fukuoka University, Japan. After her professional experience working as an engineer in Japan, Ohira moved to the United States and attended University of Kansas and Southern Illinois University-Carbondale where she was awarded an M.F.A. in Studio Art. Ohira went on to study at Emporia State University, Kansas, and completed her M.L.S. and Archive Studies Certification.

Michael Barera is the University and Labor Archivist at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. He has been editing Wikipedia for over 15 years, and has given numerous presentations on the topic at the local, regional, and national level. He was previously an Assistant Archivist at Texas A&M University-Commerce. He is an alumnus of the University of Michigan (MSI '14, BA '12) and a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Hammad Khan is the Data Management Librarian for the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. He manages UTA's institutional data repository Mavs Dataverse and assists students, faculty, and staff with data management planning. He co-authored the Data Science for Librarians textbook and is an Information Science Ph.D candidate at UNT.

Nihal Kumarswamy is a Graduate Research Assistant for the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. He assists students, faculty, and staff with research data lifecycle and general data management practices. 

Alexandra Pirkle (she/they) is the Editorial Services Coordinator for the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. They are also the founding chair for the Advocates for Disability and Accessibility Committee, where they advocate for the disabled users and staff of the Libraries in the designing of spaces and services provided. When not in the Libraries, they are usually busy writing poetry, reading one of the 1,000 books in their personal library, and/or snuggling their cat, Korra.

Ben Huseman is the Cartographic Archivist at The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Special Collections (since 2006) and has curated dozens of exhibits of rare maps, prints, books, paintings and drawings over a long curatorial career that includes, in addition to 15 years at UTA: 4 years at the DeGolyer Special Collections Library at SMU in Dallas, 2 years at Riddell Rare Maps and Prints in Dallas and 13 years at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth. He has authored gallery guides, exhibit catalogs, articles, web content, and blog posts on subjects ranging from the U.S.-Mexico War to the topic of Maps & Religion. In addition to offering tours of Special Collections, he occasionally teaches a history/geography course titled “Images of the Southwest Borderlands” featuring original primary-source materials.

Yumi Ohira is currently serving as the Digital Publishing & Repository Librarian at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Ohira joined the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries in April 2019. Matters related to scholarly communications and open access are part of her portfolio. Previously, Ohira worked at University of Nebraska at Omaha as the Digital Initiatives Librarian, followed by her first career as a librarian, the Digital Curation Librarian, at Fort Hays State University, Kansas. Ohira is originally from Japan where she received a B.S. in Applied Physics from Fukuoka University, Japan. After her professional experience working as an engineer in Japan, Ohira moved to the United States and attended University of Kansas and Southern Illinois University-Carbondale where she was awarded an M.F.A. in Studio Art. Ohira went on to study at Emporia State University, Kansas, and completed her M.L.S. and Archive Studies Certification.

Joe Carpenter is currently serving as a Graduate Research Assistant in Digital Publishing Services. In the Spring of 2020, Joe was hired to improve and expand the Maverick Veterans’ Voices Project, an oral history project and partnership between the History Department and UTA Libraries. Joe graduated Summa cum laude with a BA in History from UTA in 2020. He is presently a history graduate student focusing on Military History, Archives, and Public History. Joe spent eight years in the United States Air Force Medical Corps where he deployed in support of Desert Storm. Joe left the military in 1993 and worked for 23 years in medical device sales and the insurance industry before returning to school in 2016.  

John Lloyd, National Sales Manager IET  John brings over 35 years of experience in the publishing world.  The last 13 year representing IET, a UK STEM publisher.  He works with libraries in the academic, corporate and government spaces in 35 states and 5 provinces in Canada.  His experience with IET covers STEM journals, books and databases and positioning  this content at each institution.  Before IET, he was with EBSCO and West Publishing, covering all markets as well.

Martin Wallace is UTA Libraries’ liaison to Engineering, Math and Physics. He has been in this and similar roles at other institutions for over 15 years combined. Martin specializes in Experiential Learning, Information Literacy, Intellectual Property, and Assessment.

Morgan Chivers graduated from San Jose State University (2011) after spending a full decade earning four simultaneously conferred degrees and five minors: BA History, BA Global Studies, BFA Photography, and BFA Spatial Arts, with minors in Anthropology, Music, Religious Studies, German, and Environmental Studies. UTA’s glass program lured this Californian to Texas; Morgan earned an MFA in Glass / Intermedia (2015) with conceptually-rooted, experimental artwork often involving digital fabrication. He joined the FabLab team shortly thereafter as a Technician, and now serves as FabLab Librarian & Artist in Residence, helping to train student employees, liaison to A+AH Department, collaboratively co-develop curriculum with faculty to integrate making into courses across this beautifully diverse campus, and present the UTA FabLab's innovative work via professional publishing, conferences, and symposia.

Perla Vargas is an undergraduate student at UTA pursuing a BFA in Sculpture. She has been a Student Lead of the Fablab going on three years, giving FabLab orientation tours, software and equipment trainings, and design consultations in both English and Spanish. Perla believes in providing a welcoming space for learning, regardless of prior experience, where we can grow as a community to empower and encourage one another.

Assisted by the FabLab Glass & Printmaking students: Austice Rice, Basil Hammack, Dima Abboud, Todd Castleberry

Fabiola Ruiz is an undergraduate student at UTA pursuing a BFA in Visual Communications: Graphic Design. She has been a Student Lead of the Fablab for two years, giving FabLab orientation tours, software and equipment training, and designing guides for FabLab virtual services. Fabiola loves to submerge herself in the world of design in any environment that she is placed in. During her free time, she enjoys learning new techniques in design, papermaking, and caring for her indoor plants.