VCU news

By Brian McNeill

Virginia Commonwealth University students will design and build creations out of an estimated 15,000 Lego bricks as part of an event to encourage creativity and collaboration.

VCU Libraries is hosting a five-day Lego in the Library event, starting Monday, Oct. 19, at 9 a.m. and closing Friday, Oct. 23, at 10 p.m. It will be held on the first floor of James Branch Cabell Library, near the elevators.

The idea is to spark creativity and collaboration by building together, remixing what others have created and sharing creations via social media platforms, said Hillary Miller, scholarly communications outreach librarian with VCU Libraries.

“At the Lego build, we want students to build together and feel free to change and add onto others’ creations because we know that what they come up with will only be made better by collaboration,” she said. “We’re excited to see students of differing backgrounds and majors working together who might not have otherwise had the opportunity, and we want the libraries to be the place where this kind of collaboration happens every day.”

GIF by Julian McBain/VCU Libraries

The Lego build is part of International Open Access Week, an international event that provides the academic community with the opportunity to learn about and share the potential benefits of open access to information, such as free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research.

“Open access to research helps students, scholars and researchers collaborate and innovate at an accelerated pace and has direct and widespread impact on our ability to advance knowledge in academia, medicine, technology and society as a whole,” Miller said.

Building and collaborating with Lego is a great metaphor for open access, in which scholars freely share their results and invite other scholars to build upon their work.

We’re excited to see students of differing backgrounds and majors working together who might not have otherwise had the opportunity.

“Creativity is an inherently collaborative act. When we create something new, we’re building on something old, and the more we share, the more we contribute to future creativity and collaboration. Sharing is especially important when it comes to scholarly creations,” Miller said. “The results of research and scholarship should be as open and accessible as possible to encourage the kinds of creativity and collaboration that lead to new discoveries and advances in knowledge.”

Events to promote open access have traditionally focused on faculty, but with the Lego build, VCU Libraries wanted to engage student researchers.

“Students are the creators and innovators of the future, and unimpeded access to research results is important to their education,” Miller said. “VCU Libraries and the task force working on Open Access Week themes wanted an active exercise.”

To prepare for the Lego build, VCU Libraries acquired 60 pounds of Lego bricks, amounting to roughly 15,000 bricks. Miller said VCU Libraries plans to keep them after the event, and they will likely make appearances in the future.

“This first Lego build is part of Open Access Week,” she said, “but there’s never a wrong time to encourage creativity, collaboration, and sharing — or to play with Legos!”

VCU Libraries will hold two additional events for faculty during Open Access Week. They are:

• “Taking Open Access to the Next Level: Hosting Journals and Conference Proceedings with Scholars Compass”

VCU Libraries invites faculty to an Oct. 19 luncheon program, noon–1 p.m., James Branch Cabell Library, second-floor multipurpose room to explore the potential for hosting open access journals and conference and other event proceedings through VCU’s institutional repository Scholars Compass. Lunch will be provided. Please register here.

• “Are You Ready for Public Access to Your Research? What You Need to Know to Comply with New Federal Policies”

VCU Libraries invites researchers to an Oct. 22 luncheon program, noon–1 p.m., Tompkins-McCaw Library, first-floor conference room to discuss the latest public access and data management requirements from the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Lunch will be provided. Please register here.

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