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OA support Research project

Shaping our open access support services

Open Lock. Jisc and Matt Lincoln. CC-BY-NC-ND
Open Lock. Jisc and Matt Lincoln. CC-BY-NC-ND

Two ways in which we have supported institutions in meeting the challenges of implementing open access over the last couple of years are through the open access good practice initiative and the repository technical support project.

While a great deal of progress has been made, supported by these projects, the challenges of OA implementation are ongoing.

We’d like to explore our continuing role in providing specialist support for OA implementation and find out how we can best sustain this activity.

What are we doing now?

We want to find out if there is a need for an open access support service, which would be a separate and distinct offer from the technical services we provide, such as Monitor, Publications Router and the SHERPA services.

The objectives of the work, being undertaken by Research Consulting, are:

  • To assess the demand from HEIs for ongoing OA support
  • To review the current provision of OA support services for HEIs
  • To develop a range of service offers, delivery options and business models for a Jisc OA support service
  • To evaluate the different options and to develop recommendations for a Jisc OA support service

To achieve these objectives, we are interviewing research leaders, librarians and research support staff from a representative sample of UK universities.

What next?

By the end of January, we will have received recommendations from Research Consulting and we’ll make a decision about whether to build a business case for a new OA support service. Should this decision be positive, we would aim to begin the new service in late 2017.

While this potential new service will extend our activities, our existing support in terms of providing online information and resources, answering general queries and providing online advice will continue.

For further information about this project or the support we currently provide, please contact Helen Blanchett.

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