- Collections
About Collections
The Library provides access to all sorts of information resources to support your learning and research. You can search all of our collections through the Library Catalogue, or learn more about different types of information resources below.
- Using the Library
Find your way
Find out about what Library services you can avail of, take our 360 degree Library tour and navigate your way around the Library. Each section includes a description of services available and allows you to become familiar with the Library before you visit us.
- We Can Help
We're here to help
Library staff provide support, help, and training to enable you to get to grips with the literature of your subject and the Library's resources.
- Digital Scholarship
Digital Scholarship
The Library welcomes opportunities to advance our Digital Scholarship. Our areas of contribution include content, technology, infrastructure, partnership and the practice-based expertise in our team.
- Open Scholarship
Open Scholarship
The Library supports the practice of research, education and knowledge exchange to enable open collaboration and learning.
- Search
Search
A single search interface to all collections and content, both physical and digital. It's quick, user-friendly, and a personalised discovery experience.
- About
Open Scholarship
What is Open Scholarship?
Open Scholarship is an umbrella term for a wide range of Open practices. Definitions can be tricky but the following (adapted from Foster and Trinity) is a good attempt:
Open Scholarship is the practice of research, education and knowledge exchange in such a way that others can collaborate and contribute, where research publications, data, lab notes and other scholarly processes and works are properly and ethically managed and evaluated and, unless restricted for justifiable reasons, are freely available to all levels of society under terms that enable reuse, redistribution and reproduction of the work and its underlying data and methods.
Open Scholarship, Open Science or Open Research? Open Terminology
Depending on where you first heard of about Open practices you might get puzzled when you hear terms like Open Scholarship, Open Science or Open Research being mentioned. Are they different or do they mean the same?
The first thing to note is that they are used in different contexts and by different stakeholders. The good news is that the terms agree on definitions of Openness with only minor nuances to be aware of.
Open Scholarship
Open Scholarship is the broadest term to include all Open practices. It aims to open up research, education and knowledge exchange as much as possible and in an ethical way. The main difference to Open Science and Open Research is possibly that Open Education is included in its scope. Open Scholarship is often used by libraries (e.g. Trinity) to stress the inclusivity of the Open concept. Our Library has embraced the term but we acknowledge that in other contexts the use of Open Science or Open Research is appropriate.
Open Science
Open Science is the term used by many European funders and policy makers, such as the European Commission. Anyone receiving a European grant, e.g. through Horizon, needs to comply with the EU's Open Science policy. The downside of the term "Open Science" is that the Arts & Humanities communities might feel excluded and therefore, Open Science is less frequently used in Ireland or the UK.
Open Research
The term Open Research emphasises the need for Openness throughout the research cycle including research data, methods, code and publications. As a concept Open Research relates to all disciplines (but does not include Open Education). The term is used by funders and policy makers, for example by Science Foundation Ireland, or by the National Open Research Forum (NORF) which was launched by the Government of Ireland in July 2019.
Further guidance
Please also consult the support available at the Research Community Portal which includes sections on Research Integrity, Ethics and other topics related to Open.
The Eight Pillars of Open Scholarship
The EU Commission has developed the useful concept of the “Eight Pillars of Open Science” (now called "eight ambitions"). We have adapted that model for the University of Galway and are working with the following Eight Pillars to define the scope of Open Scholarship:
Additional Questions?

Hardy Schwamm
Open Scholarship Librarian
Twitter @hardyschwamm
Email: hardy.schwammuniversityofgalway.ie