Dear colleagues:
Lyrasis is delighted to invite everyone to the
5th Annual LyrOpen Fair, which will be held virtually from March 24 to April 2, 2026, with five webinars exploring the concept of Open from an array of stakeholder perspectives, both US-based and international.
Everyone is welcome to attend, and all sessions are free. Sessions will be recorded for those unable to attend. Detailed information about each session is provided below.
Please register for any or all of the sessions and join us for this thought-provoking annual event.
--
SESSION #1: Planting Seeds for Sustainability
Description: This webinar will bring together partners that support publishers participating in Opening the Future to reflect on the role their infrastructures play in the program's success. Speakers will discuss how established services underpin the discovery, distribution, and long term sustainability of open access books, work that is often essential yet largely invisible. The conversation will highlight how these partners, operating alongside one another, support knowledge mobility and contribute to sustainable approaches to open access book publishing across different disciplinary communities and regions. We'll also talk about ways in which this community can be brought together to share knowledge and advocate collaboratively in making OA books freely available to all, globally, through Opening the Future.
--
SESSION #2: Publishing for Change: The Value of Diamond Open Access Journals
- Description: When investments in Diamond Open Access journals are considered in academic libraries, the deliberations often hinge on demonstrating the local return on investment. This is not an easy task given that go-to methods of assessing a journal's value rely on the number of affiliated scholars engaging with the journal, proxies of prestige, and quantitative usage data. These criteria reinforce the dominance of long-running publications embedded within commercial research and publishing infrastructure that has been designed to track such metrics. How can we make our evaluation processes more open to innovative, experimental journals that are committed to changing the publishing status quo and giving back to their communities? In this webinar, editors of the Diamond Open Access journals Global Social Challenges Journal and Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies will encourage attendees to consider the values that underlie a journal when assessing its value. The speakers will provide specific examples of how they align their publishing practices with the values of their stakeholder communities. They will also speak to the transformative potential of community investment in Diamond Open Access and share how funding received through the Lyrasis Open Access Community Investment Program (OACIP) has helped sustain their journals.
- Date/Time: Thursday, March 26, 10:00-11:00 am Eastern
- Registration: https://lyrasis.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3DW4r9bITc6WxJVbHdU-iw
- Speakers:
- Katie Foxall, Senior Journals Development Editor, Bristol University Press
-
Nikita Goel, Editor, Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies
--
SESSION #3: Understanding the Impact of Open: Library Experiences from the Field
- Description: Join us for an engaging conversation with librarians who are at the forefront of advancing open scholarship from a research and scholarly impact perspective. This session will highlight the evolving work of librarians who support researchers, institutions, and communities in understanding and demonstrating the impact of open access, open infrastructure, and open science practices. Panelists will share practical insights into how they define, assess, and communicate the impact of open research across different contexts. This webinar offers an opportunity to learn from experienced practitioners, ask questions, and reflect on the role of openness in shaping the future of research.
- Date/Time: Friday, March 27, 12:00-1:00 pm Eastern
- Registration: https://lyrasis.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fY_3SEpDRHWQsNk-ga76cg
- Speakers:
--
SESSION #4: AI & Open Access: Misconceptions, Opportunities, Risks
- Description: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) creates opportunities and risks for the scholarly communication ecosystem, especially in the context of open access publishing and platforms. In this webinar, a group of community experts will engage in a wide-ranging panel discussion about open access in the context of AI. Panelists will address common misconceptions about AI, explore ethical and human-centered applications of AI tools, and discuss key intersections between AI and OA in licensing, publishing, and libraries. This conversation will give attendees a deeper understanding of the ways AI might shape our increasingly Open future.
- Date/Time: Tuesday, March 31, 2:00-3:00 pm Eastern
- Registration: https://lyrasis.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gwEi37HGRK6y7QqL18KTHw
- Speakers:
--
SESSION #5: Open as an Institutional Asset: Advancing Shared Goals through Cross-Campus Collaboration
- Description: "Open" practices (open access, open infrastructure, open science, and related initiatives) are increasingly central to how universities advance their core missions in research, teaching, and public service. While libraries are often leaders in the "open" space, cross-campus collaboration is essential to support openness as a shared institutional asset and a foundation for sustainable, impactful scholarship. This webinar will provide an overview of why "open" matters beyond the library, with perspectives from research administrators and librarians at three public universities. We'll hear how universities are supporting institutional priorities, such as research integrity, scholarly impact, policy compliance, and trust, through partnerships on "open" initiatives.
- Date/Time: Thursday, April 2, 1:00-2:00 pm Eastern
- Registration: https://lyrasis.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dmhcPvt3SfCVYF89s-qGBQ
- Speakers:
- Lori Schultz, Assistant Vice President for Research Administration, Colorado State University
- Catherine Stollar-Peters, Director of Research Data and Strategy for the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development, State University of New York (SUNY) system
- Jeremy Katz, Research Impact Librarian, Florida State University
Many thanks,
-------------------------------------------