News item published on: 2026-09-21 15:44:00
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.
Open Accessibility: Sharing Open Research in Accessible Formats Monday October 5 | 2 p.m. Cook Library Room 206Z and Virtual Register
Presenters: John Blair, Web Services Coordinator, University Libraries Jennie Vance, Institutional Repository Specialist, University Libraries
If you’ve been sharing your research or scholarship online openly but aren’t sure how to comply with the updated Title II guidelines for digital accessibility, this session is for you! Attendees will learn what digital accessibility entails, how they can create or remediate web content and digital documents in compliant formats, and how to determine if their digital content is sufficiently compliant.
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.
Panel Discussion: Open Access and Artificial Intelligence: Opportunity, Threat, or Both? Tuesday, October 27 | 2 p.m. Cook Library Room 206Z and Virtual Register
Panelists: Dr. Jose Martinez Cruz, Assistant Professor, School of Computing Sciences & Computer Engineering Dr. Jason McCormick, Assistant Professor, School of Humanities and Director of the Writing Center Dr. Lila de Tantillo, Associate Professor, School of Leadership and Advanced Nursing Practice Dr. Wei Wang, Professor, School of Marketing
Join us for this session in which a group of Southern Miss faculty will discuss the effects that the rapid growth of generative AI tools may have on open scholarship and open access (OA). For example, we will discuss whether open research being available for AI models to scrape and train is a net positive or negative for OA. We will also discuss the degree to which AI-generated works are appropriate for inclusion in open research platforms. In addition to these and other related topics, audience members will have the opportunity to ask the panelists their own questions related to the relationship between OA and AI.
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 .