EIFL Open Access Programme Manager, Iryna Kuchma, shares a checklist for fine-tuning open access repositories that are built with DSpace software. The checklist is drawn from a series of seven webinars organized by EIFL, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS, United Kingdom) and Stellenbosch University (South Africa), from January to May 2016.

EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) manager Ramune Petuchovaite attended the 2nd African Public Libraries Summit in Mbabane, Swaziland, from 30 April to 1 May 2016. Ramune was inspired to meet a new corps of young African library leaders and to see them engage in lively discussion about library innovation and community development.

Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme manager, blogs about activities on UNESCO World Book & Copyright Day and WIPO World Intellectual Property Day 2016, and shares highlights from an EIFL social media campaign.

EIFL Open Access Programme Manager Iryna Kuchma recently returned from Myanmar where EIFL, in association with the University of Mandalay and the University of Yangon, organized a series of seminars and meetings to finalize institutional open access policies and launch open access repositories. Iryna was inspired to blog about the people she met and their strong commitment to open access.

In 2014, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) issued open access policies to make their research openly available. These policies are producing results, and open access and open data are steadily growing in China.

2015 was a busy year for everyone involved in promoting open access (OA) in Serbia, but results were positive, says Milica Ševkušić, EIFL’s OA Country Coordinator in Serbia.

Achievements that Serbia’s OA movement can be especially proud of include increases in the quality and quantity of OA content; a successful OA education programme for researchers and publishers, and progress in setting up institutional OA repositories.

Tomorrow’s world: a guessing game

‘Tomorrow’s World’, BBC television’s flagship popular science programme that began in 1965 and ran for almost 40 years, featured new scientific developments each week and sometimes put inventions to the test live on air.

Three days, four tracks, 75 sessions

Open access – the immediate, online, free and unrestricted availability of research results – is a powerful solution to the barriers that researchers in developing and transition economy countries face in accessing and sharing critical research that can improve people’s lives.

In collaboration with our global network of partners, we have contributed substantially to open access (OA) in developing and transition economy countries. In 2016 - 2017, we’ll be taking stock of our progress and taking our OA programme to the next level.

EIFL has released a new video about a mobile library project that takes solar-powered laptop computers and internet to poorly resourced schools to give struggling children hands on computer practice.

The video features Western Regional Library’s first visit to Archbishop Amissah Junior High School in Western Region, and the school’s first hands on computer class.