KU Libraries accepting nominations for 8th annual open access award

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas Libraries are now accepting nominations for the eighth annual Shulenburger Award for Innovation & Advocacy in Scholarly Communication. The award will be granted for exceptional efforts to advance innovations in open sharing and advocacy for positive change in the scholarly communication system.

Up to two awardees will be selected from nominations of KU Lawrence faculty/staff members and/or undergraduate or graduate students involved in a faculty-sponsored project. KU Lawrence academic departments, research centers or schools are also eligible for the award.

• Awards will be between $500 and $2,500
• The individual awardee may be invited to serve a term on KU's Open Access Advisory Board.

Any individual or unit affiliated with KU may nominate an individual, department, school or center that demonstrates excellence in this area. Self-nominations are also accepted. The dean of libraries appoints a selection committee consisting of a prior winner and KU Lawrence faculty from multiple disciplines, chaired by senior library administrators, to review nominations and make recommendations for final approval by the dean. The winner will be announced in October 2021 as KU celebrates International Open Access Week.

Additional information about the award, including judging criteria and requested nomination materials, can be found online.

The submission deadline is Sept. 20. Please submit requested nomination materials to Gabriela Mora, administrative assistant in the Dean’s Office, at gmora@ku.edu.

Since the 1990s, David Shulenburger has advocated, locally and nationally, for open access to the results of research. The former KU provost and executive vice chancellor’s efforts to push for innovation and greater equity in access to scholarly endeavors led to campuswide conversations among an ever-growing number of faculty supporters and the development of infrastructures to support open access to the scholarly literature published at KU. This long history seeded the growth of widespread faculty support, leading to the 2005 launch of KU ScholarWorks, a KU Libraries-managed open access digital repository for KU scholarship, and the development of a suite of digital publishing services at KU Libraries. A Faculty Senate resolution in support of better dissemination practices culminated in the 2009 passage of the Faculty Senate’s Open Access Policy.

Photo: Interior view of Watson Library on the Lawrence campus. Credit: KU Libraries.