Kelvin Smith Library has launched Scholarly Commons @ Case Western Reserve University, an open access institutional repository dedicated to showcasing CWRU faculty, staff and student scholarship. This new system allows the library to make Case Western Reserve student, faculty and staff creative and scholarly works available to the world. Alongside the launch of Scholarly Commons, the Faculty Senate is reviewing and considering a vote on whether to adopt a university Faculty Open Access policy. The proposed policy would provide Case Western Reserve faculty authors the option to legally share a version of their article in Scholarly Commons, thereby broadening the reach and impact of the university’s scholarly contributions internationally.
In collaboration with the Faculty Senate and faculty volunteers, Kelvin Smith Library’s Scholarly Communication and Copyright Librarian Karen Caputo has launched an open access pilot program that offers select university faculty the opportunity to test how an open access policy would be implemented via Scholarly Commons @ Case Western Reserve University. Any faculty author interested in sharing scholarly articles openly are welcome to participate in the pilot. Kelvin Smith Library is responsible for determining the rights to share and will consult with faculty on their legal pathways to share their scholarship while retaining their own author rights. Faculty from all disciplines who have already published with their journal of choice are encouraged to participate. If interested, reach out to Karen Caputo at karen.caputo@case.edu.