Open Education Week 2025
Open Ed Week 2025
Here are some things you can do to make research and learning more open and affordable, and to improve scholarly communications.
Publish your article Open Access:
Utilize the open access agreements from VIVA, Virginia’s Academic Library Consortium, to publish in reputable journals without any article processing charges (APCs). Visit the VIVA website for more details: https://vivalib.org/va/collections/openaccess.
VIVA Open Grants:
Are you interested in adopting an OER textbook or creating one of your own? Well, VIVA offers three grant opportunities (Adopt, Course, and Open Publishing) to help instructors use open educational resources (OER). These grants fund the adoption, adaptation, and creation of free or low-cost materials for students.
Grant details, application deadlines, and program information are available at: https://vivalib.org/va/open/grants.
Manage your professional identity:
ORCID ID is a free, unique identifier for researchers that solves the problem of name ambiguity and institutional changes. It ensures accurate attribution of research and is increasingly required by publishers and grant agencies in order to make processes more efficient.
How to Get Started with ORCID:
- Sign up at ORCID – https://orcid.org/register
- Fill in your academic background, affiliations, and publications.
- Use your ORCID ID in your email signature, CV, and author profiles.
For more information, contact Paul Boger, Head of Reference and Scholarly Communications, at research@umw.edu or 540-654-1748.
Thanks!
Amy Filiatreau (hear my name)
University Librarian
Simpson Library
University of Mary Washington
540-654-1752
afiliatr@umw.edu
Simpson Library Construction Update
From Simpson Library and Capital Outlay:
The Simpson Library stairwell repairs continue this spring semester with brickwork repairs on the front façade of the building. Simpson Library remains open and accessible during this work, with two stairwells open as the other stairwell is being worked on. This work, however, comes with increased noise, particularly during business hours.
These repairs and increased noise will be limited to weekday during business hours, so that the library will be quiet after 5 p.m. and on weekends. Alternative study spaces are available in the Hurley Convergence Center (HCC) connected to the library and the Cedric Rucker University Center.
All of our services, resources, and collections are available. Librarians are still available to answer any questions students or faculty have about research and finding information. In addition, many resources are available online, and the Simpson Library website will be updated regularly with information about the construction.
We appreciate your patience as this building maintenance is completed this semester.
For more information and updates, visit https://library.umw.edu/library.
Parsons Interviewed for Free Lance-Star Article on Archiving the Pandemic
Carolyn Parsons, head of Special Collections and University Archives for UMW Libraries, was interviewed for an article in The Free Lance-Star entitled, “Sites work to preserve these pivotal times.”
“It is such a history-in-the-making moment,” said Carolyn Parsons, head of special collections and university archives for the Simpson Library at the University of Mary Washington. “Back in March, shortly after the university was asked to close, we really just started thinking about how this moment is currently here in time and we wanted to preserve it so future researchers could have it before that content was lost.” Read more here and here.
Contribute COVID-19 Stories to Special Collections and University Archives
Archival materials detailing the University of Mary Washington’s history are used in many research projects. Photo provided by Simpson Library.
Today, we are all finding our way through a crisis that future students and scholars will be studying in the years ahead. We know that it is important to preserve as much of the record as possible for future researchers. Staff in Special Collections and University Archives are archiving the University’s response to COVID-19. However, there are important materials that we cannot collect without your help: individual stories. If you’re a UMW community member and have been keeping a record of these events and how they’ve impacted your life, please consider donating them to University Archives in the future. If you haven’t, please consider this a call to write and help us document this unprecedented global crisis. Read more.
Contribute COVID-19 Stories to Special Collections and University Archives
Archival materials detailing the University of Mary Washington’s history are used in many research projects. Photo provided by Simpson Library.
Today, we are all finding our way through a crisis that future students and scholars will be studying in the years ahead. We know that it is important to preserve as much of the record as possible for future researchers. Staff in Special Collections and University Archives are archiving the University’s response to COVID-19. However, there are important materials that we cannot collect without your help: individual stories. If you’re a UMW community member and have been keeping a record of these events and how they’ve impacted your life, please consider donating them to University Archives in the future. If you haven’t, please consider this a call to write and help us document this unprecedented global crisis. Read more.
Professor Wins Grant to Pen Open Education Textbook
Melissa Wells, an assistant professor in UMW’s College of Education, was recently awarded a $10,000 grant by VIVA – Virtual Library of Virginia – to write an Open Education Resources textbook.
It’s a dilemma faced by many students on financial aid. Funds often don’t hit accounts until a few weeks into the semester, so students can’t purchase textbooks, and they risk falling behind.
Melissa Wells, an assistant professor in UMW’s College of Education (COE), knows this scenario all too well. That’s why she’s designing an Open Education Resources (OER) textbook for her Foundations in Education course, thanks to a $10,000 grant from VIVA – Virtual Library of Virginia – a consortium of nonprofit academic libraries within the Commonwealth. News of the grant comes as educators nationwide celebrate Open Education Week, March 2 to 6.
As the cost of textbooks rises, so does the importance of providing access to personalized learning materials meant for diverse audiences. Buoyed by new Virginia legislation encouraging the adoption of open and affordable materials in higher education, Mary Washington professors like Wells are leading the way. Read more.
Bales Interviewed about Cubs, Research and Impending Retirement
Jack Bales at the celebration held by the University of Mary Washington in honor of his new book. Photo Credit: Erin Wysong.
Reference and Humanities Librarian Jack Bales was recently interviewed by his alma mater, the University of Illinois’ School of Information Sciences, about his research, impending retirement and his lifelong passion for the Chicago Cubs.
As baseball teams gear up for spring training this month, Jack Bales (MS ’74) will begin another season of following—and researching—the Chicago Cubs, a team whose history he knows well. Bales, a reference and humanities librarian, combined his expert research skills and interest in the Cubs to author a book on the team’s early history. His book, Before They Were Cubs: The Early Years of Chicago’s First Professional Team, was published last spring by McFarland & Company.
“It took years of research and writing (I have a full-time job), and since some of the newspapers I needed to consult are not available online, I spent several years going through microfilm page by page and year by year,” Bales said. “I would spend every Christmas vacation camped out by the library’s microfilm reader-printers. One of my colleagues still remembers how she came in one day when I wasn’t there and noticed my CD player, sweater, water bottle, snacks—and even my bedroom slippers—all neatly arranged beside reels of microfilm.” Read more.
Kemp Presents on Digital Archiving Lab at Digital Scholarship Conference
UMW community members collaborate on a variety of digital preservation projects in Simpson Library’s Digital Archiving Lab.
Angie Kemp, Digital Resources Librarian at Simpson Library, presented on UMW’s Digital Archiving Lab at the Bucknell University Digital Scholarship Conference in early October. The presentation provided an overview of the lab as a space for the digitization of unique materials and as a collaboration space for faculty, staff, students and community members. The presentation also discussed how a digitization lab can be a space for preserving community history, learning marketable skills and building confidence with technology tools.
2019 National Day on Writing
The University of Mary Washington is celebrating the 2019 National Day on Writing, an initiative of the National Council of Teachers of English to promote writing not just as a critical part of literacy, but as worthy of celebration and greater attention in its own right. On October 21, from 11-2 p.m., several departments and offices on campus, including the Department of English, Linguistics and Communication; Honors Scholars; Writing Center; Simpson Library; and the UMW Barnes & Noble Bookstore will have tables set up at their locations with opportunities for student engagement.
Departments involved include:
- Department of English, Linguistics and Communication
- Honors Scholars
- Writing Center
- Simpson Library
- Student Activities and Engagement
- UMW Barnes & Noble Bookstore
- Eagle One