The award is a further step in the ETH Library's efforts to increase openness. Currently, seven out of a possible 15 criteria are met.
The ETH Library is one of 15 libraries in the German-speaking area and the second Swiss library, after the HS Luzern, to be awarded the Open Library Badge (OLB) for its commitment to more openness in science and society.
The "Open Library Badge" initiative sees itself as an incentive system for more openness in libraries and is run by a committee of volunteers from the library sector. A maximum of 15 criteria can be achieved, each reflecting an aspect of a library's openness, for example by creating open-source software or making open-access resources visible up to involving customers in their own library processes (co-creation). In order to receive the OLB, five of those 15 criteria must be achieved and demonstrated by concrete examples.
The ETH Library meets the following seven criteria:
- Co-designing open-source software: external page ETH Library Lab GitHub account.
- Enable text and data mining (TDM): Info page on TDM, making own resources available as Open Data
- Making open-access resources visible: external page Open-access sources listed in the library catalogue
- Teaching and learning materials under open licence: external page YouTube channel with CC-licensed videos
- Involving own and external customers: Crowdsourcing at the Image Archive, geotagging, (co-)organisation of GLAMhack 2021.
- Support open knowledge communities: Enrich Wikipedia with historical aerial photos (Action Day 2212) and with external page portrait photos.
- Make library photos re-usable: Historical photos in Image Archive on the platform E-Pics.
We see the award as a further step in our efforts at the ETH Library not only to always offer an open door to all customers and interested parties, but also to actively promote openness in science and society in many different and sustainable ways.
Further information on the Open Library Badge can be found at external page https://badge.openbiblio.eu/.