SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) announces this year's theme is "Set the Default to Open Access" for Open Access Week (October 22 – 28, 2010). Our first online event to launch this year’s events will be a webcast with three speakers who will showcase the state of open access in each of their countries.

Please join us Tuesday June 19th at 10am Eastern US Time! RSVP at http://sparc.arl.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=108. (Please use this helpful converter to make sure you log in at the right time: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html).

Our speakers are:

1. Dr Reggie Raju, Director of IT Services & Communication, US Library & Information Service Stellenbosch University, South Africa

2. Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC in the United States

3. Iryna Kuchma, is program manager at EIFL Open Access in Ukraine

To accommodate interest in every time zone, this 1-hour event will be recorded and available on our website shortly afterwards.

With 1432 participants in 92 countries, the 2011 Open Access Week (OAW) participation grew leaps and bounds from the previous year. We are excited that so many positive developments are happening across the globe. Let us know what you are planning for this year's events. Become a member, create a group, and start planning. Make sure to say you are participating in this year's events. And please ask questions and let us know if there are resources that we can provide to help you create a more well rounded OA Week event!