International Open Access Week is a flagship global event dedicated to open access, held annually in October. This year’s theme was Who Owns Our Knowledge? and it took place 20 – 26 October 2025. The Library aimed to use this year’s Open Access Week event to also commemorate the signing of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access by the then Rector of Stellenbosch University, Professor Russel Botman, on 20 October 2010.
On 22 October 2025, a virtual seminar was held, involving various stakeholders. The programme included a presentation by the Library: “15 Years Unlocked: Celebrating Open Access since signing the Berlin Declaration,” by Ms Ellen Tise, the Senior Director of the Library. She shared a candid account of the Library’s open access journey since the commitment to open access was made. She also highlighted the milestones and pitfalls along the way. This was followed by a lively panel discussion involving three experts, Emilie Algenio (Mason University Libraries), Dr Charles Akwe Masango (University of Cape Town) and Denise Nicholson (Scholarly Horizons). While expressing frustration with the slow pace of assenting to the new South African Copyright Bill, the speakers empowered researchers and librarians on copyright, creative commons and fair use, and how these can be used by producers of knowledge to retain rights to their works. Ina Smith’s presentation “Policy and Research Ownership in the Age of Open Access” emphasised the need for clear institutional and national OA policies that prioritise researcher rights. She further encouraged universities to deposit research outputs in trusted institutional repositories for visibility and long-term preservation, as well as for compliance with funder requirements.
Author: Dr Siviwe Bangani