ISU authors flip book chapters to Open Access

  • Author By Anne Shelley
  • April 7, 2022
Photograph from Milner Library facing south showing the College Avenue Walking Bridge and the Quad
Illinois State University

Thanks to a deal between Milner Library and publisher IGI Global, three book chapters, which are written by ISU faculty, are now available to Open Access. Originally published behind a paywall, Milner librarians worked with the publisher and authors to convert the chapters to open. As a result, anyone can now download the chapters for free from IGI’s website or from ISU’s institutional repository, ISU ReD. This is perfect timing given that we are currently celebrating National Library Week and its theme of connecting scholars with information, resources, and each other. 

Jennifer Friberg, professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Cross Endowed chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and interim director of CTLT, co-wrote Structures and Considerations for SoTL Educational Development with Lauren Scharff of the United States Air Force Academy.

“To me, the benefit of open access is undeniable,” said Friberg. “A broader group of readers can freely and immediately access my work, providing greater visibility for me as a scholar while allowing for expanded conversations around the topics that are important to my scholarship.” 

Graphic of an orange open paddlock that serves as the Open Access symbol

Linsay DeMartino and S. Gavin Weiser, assistant professors in the Department of Educational Administration and Foundations, co-wrote the chapter Striving for Equity in Pandemic Times: The Administrator’s Role in the Shift to Online Education in K-12 and Higher Education Spaces. In response to this opportunity, Weiser said, “We are so excited that this chapter and so many other spaces of research are moving toward open access. The democratization of knowledge is vital to the intellectual pursuits of not only scholars within the academy, but those who occupy spaces that do not have the institutional subscriptions to be able to access these works. Without institutional support to allow for research to be available open access, we are shutting parts of the intellectual community out—and that is just not the right thing to do!” 

Kristin Carlson and Rick Valentin, Creative Technologies associate professors, co-wrote The Gamification of Code: Programming Through Play in Blended Classrooms. “I am particularly excited about more options for open access articles because this makes them more accessible to everyone, and accessibility is being touted as the new avant-garde in creative work,” said Carlson. “By making this work more accessible we are able to share these ideas and methods with those not just in academic institutions, but also with independent scholars, educators, and creatives. Sharing ideas is the main reason that I am in academia, and I am excited to have more opportunities to share these ideas with open access work.” 

For more information about Open Access publishing or making your work more publicly available, contact Milner Library’s Scholarly Communication Team at isured@ilstu.edu. 

More from Milner Library’s Scholarly Communication Team

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Center for Integrated Professional Development, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, Milner Library, Scholarly Communication, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning