The UCR Library celebrated International Open Access Week from October 20–24 with a series of workshops and a panel discussion focused on open access publishing, open educational resources (OER), open source, and open data.

The week was coordinated by Digital Scholarship Librarian Dr. Jing Han, together with the UCR Library Open Access Week Planning Committee: STEM Teaching Librarian Mary-Michelle Moore, Research Data Scientist Dr. Barbara Martinez Neda, and STEM Collection Strategist Michele Potter.

UCR librarians and staff led hands-on workshops throughout the week on topics like open access publishing, open educational resources (OER), open source, and open data. GradSuccess sponsored the week by providing light refreshments, raffle prizes, digital certificates, and marketing the week of activities.

The week concluded with The Future of Open Knowledge, a panel discussion moderated by Michele Potter, which brought together voices from UCR and the broader UC community who are actively shaping sustainable models for open scholarship:

• Walter Aaron Clark: Distinguished Professor of Musicology and Director of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music, and founding Editor-in-Chief of Diagonal: An Ibero-American Music Review.
• Jason Stajich: Professor of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, known for advancing open access to research data and publications through eScholarship.
• Gareth Funning: Professor of Seismology, Executive Editor for Production at Seismica, a community-driven open access journal in the geosciences.
• Charlotte Roh: Publications Manager at the California Digital Library, focusing on equitable and sustainable open publishing models across the UC system.

Speakers reflected on how open knowledge practices broaden scholarly reach, encourage collaboration, and reshape academic culture. The conversation highlighted the ongoing work across UCR and the UC system to support more open and equitable ways of creating and sharing knowledge.