In May, SPARC hosted a program on "Protecting ILL to Better Enable Collections Flexibility: Leveraging and Preserving Fair Use/Fair Dealing." Given the depth of interest and the many questions we didn’t have time to cover fully, we will be hosting a follow up discussion on Protecting ILL to Better Enable Collection Flexibility on Monday, July 27, at 3pm ET / 12pm PT.

This event will feature the same presenters (listed below) who will cover key topics in more detail, answer additional questions from the first session, and reserve plenty of time for new questions and discussion with participants. Prior to the July 27 event, we plan to circulate a summary of key points from the first discussion to registrants.

Participants are encouraged to submit questions in advance and to share their relevant experiences live during the session. Please use the relevant field in the registration form to add any questions you have for the speakers and to indicate if you have experience in this area you’d like to share. This event is open to those working in academic institutions and will not be recorded.

Presenters

• Kevin Smith, Retired Dean of Libraries and Professor of copyright law, University of Kansas
• Felicity Walsh, Head of Information Delivery and Library Access, MIT Libraries
• Katie Zimmerman, Director of Copyright Strategy, MIT Libraries
• Donald Taylor, University Copyright Officer, Head, Interlibrary Loans, and Research Repository (Summit) Coordinator, Simon Fraser University
• Stephen Spong, Copyright Officer and Associate Librarian (Teaching & Learning Team), Western University

Building on our popular “Open Access 101” events, SPARC is pleased to announce a new series, Collections & Open Access: Resourcing Open Scholarship, that will dive deeper into topics at the intersection of library collections and Open Access. This series will examine how collections librarians are navigating major changes, including funder public access requirements and evolving publisher business models, and consider what these changes mean for the future of libraries. The series will explore broader trends in the evolution of collections work, the practical realities of how different libraries are approaching these changes, and what lessons other institutions might draw from their experience.

Resourcing Open Access is a three-part webinar series designed for collections-focused librarians and others engaged in this work. Together, we will move from foundational concepts to implementation to critical reflection—exploring not only how this work gets done, but why it matters and for whom. The series will use an educate-implement-complicate structure, similar to our last OA 101 series.

The first session, ​​Access Transformation in a Shifting Landscape, will build a shared understanding of open access models, navigating budget uncertainty, and the policy environment shaping scholarly communication. The second, Collection Strategies as Scholarly Infrastructure, will highlight how collections work supports open publishing and functions as scholarly communication infrastructure. The final session, Power, Equity, and the Future of Open, will create space to examine the tensions within open access work, including questions of equity, labor, sustainability, and power. 

The first session will be hosted on July 22 from 2-3:30pm ET / 11am-12:30pm PT, and the discussion will be led by Ana Noriega (Colby College), Anne Rauh (Syracuse University), and Miranda Bennett (California Digital Library) and moderated by Lindsay Cronk (Tulane University). You can register for the first session here. Additional details and information about registration for the next two events in this series will be announced in the coming weeks.

Across all three sessions, participants will engage with peers, reflect on their own institutional contexts, and leave with a clearer sense of how to navigate and shape collections work in an open landscape. All sessions are intended as friendly opportunities for discussion as well as “no bad questions” spaces. Sessions will be highly interactive and designed to help participants arrive at a practical understanding that they can immediately apply in their own contexts.

Resourcing Open Access is open to those working within libraries and is being developed with an emphasis on supporting those doing collections work. This series is created in partnership with Maria Bonn (University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne), Will Cross (North Carolina State University), and Josh Bolick (University of Kansas) as well as Lindsay Cronk (Tulane University) and in collaboration with the speakers featured in each session. Recordings of the presentation portion of each session will be posted publicly afterward. Q&A and discussion will not be recorded.

“The Cost of Knowledge” is the theme for this year’s International Open Access Week (October 19-25).

We create and share knowledge in order to advance human understanding and the common good. We recognize that accessing and sharing knowledge is a human right. Yet, the costs to access and share knowledge continue to increase, often dramatically. Why? Who benefits?

Increasing consolidation and commercial control over all aspects of knowledge comes at a cost. This year’s theme challenges us to consider the financial, human, and environmental costs of creating, sharing, and sustaining knowledge—particularly when these costs are driven by private rather than public interests. Last year’s theme of “Who owns our knowledge?” reflected on the reality of commercial ownership of knowledge. This year’s theme will reckon with the costs of that reality and avenues for reclaiming control of these systems meant to serve the public interest. 

These costs go well beyond the rapidly inflating price of journal subscriptions and article processing charges. What is the value of the time and effort invested by authors, reviewers, and editors in publications, and whose interests does this uncompensated labor serve? What is the cost of excluding much of the world’s population from equitable participation in producing, sharing, and sustaining their knowledge or of failing to recognize Indigenous Data Sovereignty? Why are researchers’ works being licensed for proprietary AI training without consent or compensation, and why do platforms for sharing knowledge now frequently surveil users? What is the cost of prioritizing data centers over people’s needs for power and water?

The status quo is not equitable. It never has been, and maintaining it is not neutral. Building systems for sharing knowledge that reflect the best interests of the communities they serve requires a commitment to these systems, individually and collectively.

Fortunately, there are many examples for how we can create, sustain, and share knowledge as a public good. From Indigenous Data Governance models to no-fee, non-commercial, and community-driven sustainability models for publishing, momentum is growing for approaches that treat knowledge as a common good and not a commodity to be mined. The importance of these approaches has been recognized by 193 countries in adopting the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science. International Open Access Week is a time to move beyond conversations and catalyze change toward ways of sharing knowledge that honor the reasons we create knowledge in the first place.

Open Access Week 2026 will be held from October 19th through the 25th; however, anyone is encouraged to host discussions and take action whenever is most suitable during the year. Communities can adapt the theme to their local context and focus on specific conversations that are most meaningful. Customizable graphics templates are available to promote these locally adapted themes.

Translations of this announcement in other languages, graphics for this year’s theme, and more information about the week are available at openaccessweek.org. The official hashtag for the week is #OAWeek.

About SPARC

SPARC is a non-profit organization that supports open systems for research and education that enable everyone, everywhere to access, contribute to, and benefit from the knowledge that shapes our world. International Open Access Week was established by SPARC and partners in the student community in 2008. Learn more at sparcopen.org.

About International Open Access Week

Open Access Week is an invaluable chance to connect the global momentum toward the open sharing of knowledge with the advancement of policy changes and the importance of social issues affecting people around the world. The event is celebrated by individuals, institutions, and organizations around the world, and its organization is led by a global advisory committee, which selects each year’s theme. The official hashtag of Open Access Week is #OAweek.