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avatar for Brittany Klemm

Brittany Klemm

Oregon State University
Masters Student in College Student Service Administration
Corvallis, Oregon

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First I must say how thankful and privileged I am to have the opportunity to apply for this conference opportunity, to have been accepted, and to be able to attend and meet all of you in the near future!

I only recently became aware of the existence of Open Access, Open Educational Resources, and Open Data. I became instantly interested in OA, OE, and OD because I recently graduated with a B.S. in Geology and religious studies minor. To graduate, I was required to conduct 3 years of research, which required access to scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. I am now entering my first year of graduate school in Oregon State University's (OSU) College Student Service Administration (CSSA) program and simultaneously pursuing an Anthropology minor. The expectation of me and my colleagues to conduct scholarly research is now higher than it has ever been. Realizing how important it is that access and user rights are granted to all individuals, I hope to learn more about what I can do to ensure that access to high-quality scholarship is ensured.

However, because I have only recently learned about OA, OE, and OD, I am not currently involved in any projects, campaigns, or initiatives.

I plan to use my experience at OpenCon '14 to advocate for OA, OE, and OD. Fortunately, OSU has an active and vibrant community which supports OA which includes a policy, in which faculty is committed to “disseminating its research and scholarship as widely as possible,” a Hall of Fame, which inducts OSU members who work to make scholarship freely available online; and active partnership with Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC). I would like to communicate and potentially collaborate with Michael Boock, Head of Center for Digital Scholarship and Services to see ways in which I and my peers can advocate for Open Access at OSU.

Furthermore, as a member of the Coalition for Graduate Students (CGS) at OSU, I foresee a powerful endorsement for Open Access by the students (graduate students) who arguably need access to the high-quality scholarship that Open Access provides. CGS is a sponsored student group on campus formed by several graduate students who advocate for their needs, benefits, and support. With increased awareness, CGS could become actively engaged with and supportive of Open Access (via. writing legislatures, creating a campus chapter, joining the Right to Research Coalition.)

I look forward to learning more about these topics and learning how I can be an effective part of the change!