Taking action for Open Access : Upload-a-Thon at the Faculty of Dentistry

Abstract

Objectives: In November 2016, a dedicated collection for Faculty of Dentistry (FMD) publications was created in Université de Montréal's institutional repository. Several solicitation emails were sent to faculty members afterwards; yet, only 5 post-prints were uploaded in the open archive by October 2017. As FMD researchers contribute to about 50 articles every year, a more personalized approach was clearly required to encourage deposits. Methods: The dental librarian organized an "Upload-a-thon" as suggested by SPARC's Open Action Kit for Open Access Week 2017. First, she identified potential authors using data from an alerts-based EndNote database of FMD publications. Fifty-three articles were published between October 2016 and September 2017. To ensure that article post-prints were readily available for deposit, the librarian focused on a subset of 21 papers where 9 individuals had the corresponding author status. Next, these researchers were invited via email to send their post-print(s) directly to the librarian, who had already verified the journals' self-archiving policies. Upon a positive response, the paper was forwarded to the repository's cataloguing team, thus bypassing the submission form. The message also included links to register for the dental librarian's Open Access workshop and to the libguide on this topic. Finally, impromptu visits were made to corresponding authors’ offices to discuss Open Access benefits and share color-themed cupcakes. Results: Six corresponding authors responded favorably to the librarian's request by sending 19 potential articles to the librarian. Moreover, one author asked a colleague to forward an article too. Seven participants attended the workshop, including one FMD faculty member who later submitted 6 articles. After verification, there was a total of 23 uploads to the institutional repository (10 post-prints and 13 publisher's PDFs). By April 1, 2018, these records had generated 430 downloads. The Cupcake Tour allowed the librarian to engage with targeted authors and further disseminate open access information to 10 other faculty, students or staff members. Conclusions: Successful uploading results were achieved using a combination of 1) targeting potential authors; 2) favoring a personal interaction via a tailored email or an open discussion after the workshop. Offering comfort food captured the attention of additional members at FMD. Consequently, the "Upload-a-thon" will be planned again next year. In addition, now that a first contact has been established and champions identified, the librarian plans to solicit them directly when their name turns up in a bibliographic database alert.