Living open access

I arrived at George Mason University in July of 2005, a wet-behind-the-ears, just-graduated librarian stuck with the thankless task of running a new institutional repository.

Even before I met him, his presence and CHNM's on campus gave me faith in what I was doing -- some faculty DID care! Not only that, they were writing books and building tools that would help me open the world!

I did have the privilege of meeting Roy at last. The inevitable tall cup of coffee was involved! What struck me about him was his awareness; he really heard what was happening around him, and the complex machinations involved as he assimilated what he heard to what he already knew (and he knew a lot!) were practically visible.

I congratulated him by email when he became a design element on the Create Change open-access website. I was so pleased and proud to be associated with him, even in such a tenuous fashion as working at the same campus in a roughly similar problem space.

The open-access community is much, much the poorer for his loss. As I am.