Open Access Marketing at the University of Malta : A case study of how the University of Malta Library set up The Open Science Department to help market and promote the Open Access institutional repository – OAR@UoM

Abstract

In 2014, the University of Malta Library (UM) launched its Open Access Institutional Repository - OAR@UoM. Since OAR@UoM is the first and only online Institutional Repository (IR) on the Maltese Islands, it also plays a major role to promote Open Access (OA) nationally, and to form partnerships with other stakeholders who lack the infrastructure but are interested to deposit in OA. The Outreach department of the University of Malta Library was tasked with promoting OAR@UoM, and also develop training workshops to instruct academics on how to upload their research, whilst providing some background information on OA and the benefits associated. A number of promotional materials were created and disseminated on campus to help increase the awareness of OA and OAR@UoM. During the yearly OA week (October) on Campus, the Library organizes a number of OA related activities,talks and discussions

After providing academics with monthly workshops on the benefits of OA and showing them how easy it is to upload on OAR@UoM, only a handful of academics have actually uploaded their publications (or their research outcomes). In 2017, with the OA Policy being in its final stages of approval, the University of Malta Library decided to set up an Open Science department to better organize the workflow related to OA and submission of items on the IR. Thus, the contributions of academics from the UM for the time being depends entirely on their views on the usefulness of the IR. Consultations with local academics on their views on the IR show that the most popular reasons they are mentioning as obstacles for submitting work, are copyright issues or specific agreements with publishers, or not having the time to submit. This is evident from a number of comments from academics during training workshops held between 2014-2017 by library staff members. Since the Open Science department is a relatively new department, the research will look into its creation and development and focus on its impact on the UM research community.This paper will explore the duties and role of the OS department in collaboration with the Outreach department to promote and market OA in Malta.