LIBSENSE International Open Access Week 2026 Webinar

Wednesday 21 Oct 2026, 10:00 → 11:30 Africa/Accra

Zoom

Omo Oaiya (WACREN), Chinwe Anunobi (National Library of Nigeria (NLN))

International Open Access Week 2026 asks what knowledge costs. For African research, part of the answer is invisibility: work that cannot be found, cited, credited or preserved, and identifier infrastructure governed elsewhere.

This 90-minute webinar shows that PIDsLink, WACREN's persistent identifier service, is already running; that Nigeria is putting a national PID model into practice; and that institutions, journals and researchers across West and Central Africa can join now.

Participants will:

• see an ARK minted and resolved live, and understand how ARKs, Crossref DOIs, ORCID iDs and ROR work together
• learn how Nigeria's national model works and how other countries can adapt it
• hear early-career researchers explain why persistent identifiers matter
• leave with one clear next step for their role, taken through a single registration form

 

Target audience - Decision-makers (university librarians, research directors, national libraries, NRENs, funders); practitioners (repository managers, journal editors, research administrators); and researchers, especially early-career researchers and LIBSENSE Campus Champions.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

10:00 → 10:04 Welcome and framing

• Describing the purpose of the webinar and its connection to the International OA Week theme.
• Housekeeping
• Opening poll

Speakers: Abigail Essel, Moderator

10:04 → 10:16 Keynote and live demonstration of PIDsLink

Speakers: Mr Donald Seanedzu (WACREN), Omo Oaiya (WACREN)

PIDsLink-NG Showcase, OA Week 2026.pdf

10:16 → 10:28 Nigeria as Pathfinder, with funder signal

• The Nigeria PIDs model
• The stakeholders
• Steps so far and next steps

Speaker: Prof. Chinwe Anunobi (National Library of Nigeria (NLN))

10:28 → 10:36 ARKs: open, low-cost identifiers for knowledge sovereignty

• How ARKs work
• Owning your NAAN
• Use cases beyond articles
• ARKs alongside DOIs

Speaker: John Kunze (ARK Alliance)

PIDsLink2026ARKs_10mins.mp4

10:36 → 10:44 Crossref DOIs through WACREN

• Crossref Membership benefits
• Sponsorship steps
• Metadata quality
• ROR for every institution

Speaker: Johanssen Obanda

10:44 → 10:51 ORCID in the African PID ecosystem

• ORCID linked to DOIs, ARKs and ROR.
• Nigerian consortium.
• ORCID-WACA Community of Practice.

Speaker: Owen Iyoha (Eko-Konnect)

10:51 → 11:06 Panel: From invisible to discoverable

ECR Campus Champions give the human cost of invisibility: work that went uncited, the difference an ORCID iD or DOI made, and what they are doing as Campus Champions to build PID literacy

Speakers: Dr Amy Asimah (Regional Maritime University, Ghana), Bayor Odelami (Federal University of Health Sciences Ila-Orangun)

11:06 → 11:22 Open Q&A

11:22 → 11:30 Call to action and close

Speaker: Omo Oaiya (WACREN)