MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — A Penn State Harrisburg librarian recently completed the Open Education Network (OEN) certificate program in Open Librarianship. Andrea Pritt, STEM librarian at the Madlyn L. Hanes Library, began her eight-month training in February 2024 and completed the program in September.
The OEN is a community dedicated to working together to make higher education more affordable, equitable and accessible. Participants admitted to the certificate in Open Librarianship connect and collaborate with librarians from around the country to implement sustainable and effective open education programs for their local context, culture and goals. These objectives fit well with Penn State’s own open initiatives, which aim to enable affordable access to education and reduce barriers to the sharing and use of knowledge and information.
By earning the certificate in Open Librarianship, Pritt, who serves as Penn State Harrisburg’s Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resources (OER) liaison to the University Libraries, will be able to better assist the campus community in advancing open education initiatives at Penn State and beyond.
“It was a wonderful opportunity to expand my knowledge of open educational resources and open pedagogy,” said Pritt, who plans to use her new knowledge to create a sustainable open education initiative for STEM students and faculty at Penn State Harrisburg. “The hands-on, practical nature of the curriculum was truly enjoyable. I’m excited to implement what I’ve learned to better support our students and the Harrisburg campus community.”
“Andrea’s completion of the certificate in Open Education Librarianship reinforces her collections and data coordinator role at the Harrisburg campus,” said Glenn McGuigan, library director and head librarian for the Madlyn L. Hanes Library. “As the OA and OER liaison, she delivers presentations and communicates with the campus community regarding developments that relate to OA. In all these activities, she is a visible presence to the students and faculty, as well as to the broader campus community. Andrea is part of the growing force of academic librarians who are seeking to guide the transformation of scholarly publishing to be more open and accessible.”
For more information on OER at Penn State, visit the OER website or email oer@psu.libanswers.com.