As a leader in access, service and user experience, Rowan University Libraries anticipates and fulfills the curricular, research and clinical information needs of our community. Seeing an increased demand for accessibility to open access learning, we examined more opportunities to deliver a broader range of resources and meet your research and educational needs.
With great pride, we announce that Rowan University Libraries has now joined the ranks of other prestigious research universities as a member of SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. SPARC is a global coalition committed to making Open the default for research and education. SPARC empowers people to solve big problems and make new discoveries through the adoption of policies and practices that advance Open Access, Open Data, and Open Education.
Open access is becoming an increasingly important topic in the academy in terms of how we address spiraling textbook costs, ever increasing journals prices, and in furthering discussions around scholarly communications. The Rowan University Libraries membership in SPARC will give us increased participation in the wider conversations on this topic that are occurring at Universities around the world.
As a voting member of SPARC, Rowan University will participate in the governance of SPARC, including eligibility to serve on the SPARC Steering Committee and provide direct input on SPARC’s strategic direction. Participation in SPARC is a proven, effective way for members to leverage library resources to the fullest to achieve their missions as academic and research libraries.
Rowan University Libraries supports the educational and research mission of the university through providing the Rowan community with access to an extensive range of resources and services, which are accessible through three physical libraries and through the Library website. Subscriptions to more than 55,000 online journals and thousands of other e-resources are available 24/7 through the Library website.