2026 Open Access

University Libraries will celebrate Open Access Month this October with a series of programs exploring the opportunities and challenges shaping open scholarship. This year’s sessions will examine digital accessibility and open research, introduce OpenAlex as an open citation index, and explore the evolving relationship between open access and artificial intelligence. Programs will be offered in person at Cook Library and online throughout October. An Open Citation Index for Open Researchers: An Introduction to OpenAlex Wednesday, October 14 | 2 p.m. Cook Library Room 206Z and Virtual Register Presenter: Josh Cromwell, Scholarly Communications Manager, University Libraries OpenAlex is a fully open-source citation index akin to Web of Science or Scopus. It allows users to search for publications using a variety of facets ranging from author, institution, and funder, it provides citation metrics for the items in its database, and it even includes full text links for works that have been published Open Access. This session will provide a brief overview of OpenAlex complete with a live demo of the search interface. Attendees are encouraged to bring their laptops (or use their computers if attending virtually) to participate in exploring the OpenAlex interface. Virtual attendees MUST register in order to receive the meeting links for the sessions. Registration is strongly encouraged but not strictly required for in-person attendees. Please contact aquilastaff@usm.edu.