Libraries have gone a long way to facilitating research workflows, and more recently on fostering open access to science and openness in a broader sense. Science is evolving: research practices, resources and tools are opening up and going beyond a publication based model, to a new open environment of research data and digital research tools, social media and collaborative platforms. There is a compelling need for libraries to encompass these changes. The challenges are not only technological but also cultural and attitudinal and require a clear effort to engage and develop the necessary skills and knowledge involved in this Open Science environment.

This introductory course is addressed to librarians at different levels and positions that are committed to supporting researchers and their research processes at their institutions, and would like to gain understanding of the implications of Open Science for them, the potential opportunities and possible challenges, and check on existing best practices to deal with them.

Learning outcomes:

The learning outcomes of this course are:

  • Understand the relevance of Open Science in relation to research integrity, reproducibility and impact
  • Identify the implications and opportunities for libraries in the development and support of Open Science
  • Know existing initiatives and best practices on Open Science
  • Identify suitable resources and tools to further develop library services on Open Science

Greater insight on how to implement Open Data and Research Data Management, Open Access, copyright and e-infrastructures into the scholarly lifecycle and grant proposal preparation, can be found in the other FOSTER courses and training resources.