<div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:13px"><b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</b></div><div style="font-size:13px"><b><br></b></div><div style="font-size:13px">April 3, 2015</div><div style="font-size:13px"><br></div><div style="font-size:13px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Read it online: <a href="http://www.or2015.net/open-to-all/" target="_blank">http://www.or2015.net/open-to-all/</a></font></div><div style="font-size:13px"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Contact: <a href="http://www.or2015.net/contact-us/" target="_blank" style="line-height:21px;text-decoration:none"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.or2015.net/contact-us/</span></a></font></div><div style="font-size:13px"><b><br></b></div><div style="font-size:13px"><b><font size="4">Open Repositories, Open to All: OR2015 Conference Stands Behind Commitment to Ensure All Participants are Treated With Respect</font></b></div><div style="font-size:13px"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><span style="font-style:italic;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Indianapolis, IN</span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> The </span><a href="http://www.or2015.net/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Open Repositories 2015</span></a><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> 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.</span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6320000000000001;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="background-color:transparent;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000">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:</font></span></p><ol style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:decimal;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6320000000000001;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000">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</font></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:decimal;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000">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</font></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:decimal;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">To support the Indianapolis community, which has </span><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">shown a strong commitment to non-discrimination through its response to RFRA</span></font></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:decimal;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000">To take the opportunity to work with and support local businesses that oppose discrimination and open their doors to everyone</font></span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Conference organizers plan to enforce the Open Repositories Code of Conduct that applies to all conference vendors and suppliers: </span><a href="http://www.or2015.net/code-of-conduct/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.or2015.net/code-of-conduct/</span></a><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. Here are the steps that conference organizers will take immediately:</span></font></p><ol style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:decimal;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000">All associated conference vendors including host institutions, hotel, banquet venue, and service providers will be required to convey written commitments of non-discrimination.</font></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:decimal;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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: </span><a href="http://openforservice.org/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://openforservice.org/</span></a></font></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="margin-left:15px;list-style-type:decimal;vertical-align:baseline"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000">Conference badges will include the tagline “Open Repositories, Open to All” to reflect Open Repositories’ commitment to its core values of dignity and respect</font></span></p></li></ol><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000">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.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">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 </span><a href="http://www.or2015.net/contact-us/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.or2015.net/contact-us/</span></a><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, via twitter to @OR2015Indy or hashtag #OR2015, or directly to the Open Repositories list: </span><a href="mailto:open-repositories@googlegroups.com" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">open-repositories@googlegroups.com</span></a></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><i>Links:</i></font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Open Repositories Code of Conduct: </span><a href="http://www.or2015.net/code-of-conduct/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.or2015.net/code-of-conduct/</span></a></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Indiana University Non-Discrimination Policy: </span><a href="http://trustees.iu.edu/resources/non-discrimination-policy.shtml" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://trustees.iu.edu/resources/non-discrimination-policy.shtml</span></a><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Diversity Values Statement: </span><a href="http://inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu/mission.html" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu/mission.html</span></a></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.6363636363636362;margin-top:8pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" color="#000000"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Virginia Tech Principles of Community: </span><a href="http://www.diversity.vt.edu/principles-of-community/principles.html" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://www.diversity.vt.edu/principles-of-community/principles.html</span></a><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></font></p></div>
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