April 3, 2015 Read it online: http://www.or2015.net/open-to-all/ Contact: http://www.or2015.net/contact-us/
*Open Repositories, Open to All: OR2015 Conference Stands Behind Commitment to Ensure All Participants are Treated With Respect* Indianapolis, IN The Open Repositories 2015 <http://www.or2015.net/> conference will take place June 8-11 in Indianapolis and is wholly committed to creating an open and inclusive conference environment. As expressed in its Code of Conduct, OR is dedicated to providing a welcoming and positive experience for everyone and to having an environment in which all colleagues are treated with dignity and respect. The three host institutions for OR2015, Indiana University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Virginia Tech, share these values and are likewise committed to diversity and inclusion. OR2015 organizers and OR Steering Committee members share the concerns expressed by many about Indiana's controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), now amended from its original form. We are grateful that the amendments begin to address many but not all of those concerns. With these concerns in mind, we have decided to continue with OR2015 in Indianapolis for several reasons: 1. To continue our goal of providing an international forum for the discussion of important issues confronting the repository community and ensuring that, at a time of significant change in research and scholarly communication practices, open repositories continue to play a key role in supporting, shaping and sharing those changes and an open agenda for research and scholarship 2. To recognise the many members of the OR community who have made a significant investment in time and expense to prepare and review conference submissions and make travel plans to attend the conference in Indianapolis 3. To support the Indianapolis community, which has shown a strong commitment to non-discrimination through its response to RFRA 4. To take the opportunity to work with and support local businesses that oppose discrimination and open their doors to everyone Conference organizers plan to enforce the Open Repositories Code of Conduct that applies to all conference vendors and suppliers: http://www.or2015.net/code-of-conduct/. Here are the steps that conference organizers will take immediately: 1. All associated conference vendors including host institutions, hotel, banquet venue, and service providers will be required to convey written commitments of non-discrimination. 2. We will make information available at the conference and via the conference website about restaurants and other local businesses who are opposed to discrimination and open their doors to serve everyone, in connection with the Open for Service initiative: http://openforservice.org/ 3. Conference badges will include the tagline “Open Repositories, Open to All” to reflect Open Repositories’ commitment to its core values of dignity and respect As the 10th annual International Conference on Open Repositories, OR2015 represents a key milestone for the community. We look forward to welcoming participants to Indianapolis to reflect on and celebrate the transformative changes in repositories, scholarly communication and research data that have taken place over the last decade and, more importantly, to look forward and prepare for the challenges of the next one. The OR steering committee and OR2015 organizers would like to hear from you with any questions or concerns. Please feel free to send messages via http://www.or2015.net/contact-us/, via twitter to @OR2015Indy or hashtag #OR2015, or directly to the Open Repositories list: open-repositor...@googlegroups.com *Links:* Open Repositories Code of Conduct: http://www.or2015.net/code-of-conduct/ Indiana University Non-Discrimination Policy: http://trustees.iu.edu/resources/non-discrimination-policy.shtml University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Diversity Values Statement: http://inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu/mission.html Virginia Tech Principles of Community: http://www.diversity.vt.edu/principles-of-community/principles.html
