2026: Quarter 1 - “Night Owl” | MDPI transparency workshop | Diamond open access at TU Wien | TU Wien Academic Press at the Leipzig Book Fair | Launch of PID.at Competence Center| IP4OS project

Learning until break of dawn: TU Wien students enthusiastically participate in „Night Owl“ 

On 16 January 2026, TU Wien Bibliothek hosted its first “Night Owl” event, with the library open all night. The aim was to offer students a motivating and community-building learning experience in a quiet and safe environment. From 22:00 until 07:00 on the following morning, the main library was open exclusively to TU Wien students. The longer opening hours were accompanied by a learning workshop and short sessions of stretching exercises and yoga breathing exercises, and snacks and coffee were provided.

The event was a big success – all study desks and group study rooms were fully booked. According to the library’s counting system, 358 students were in the building from 22:00. Feedback in person and on social media was also positive, with 1053 likes and 93% in favour of a future repeat of the event. The pilot “Night Owl” event was a collaboration between the core team of the Central Room Management for Teaching and Learning and TU Wien Bibliothek, with additional support from Real Estate and Facility Management (security, technical infrastructure) and PR and Marketing (communication). Due to the success of the pilot, we plan to offer more “Night Owl” events in the coming semesters.

MDPI Transparency Workshop: Critical dialogue with the publisher

MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute) frequently experiences criticism of the quality of its scientific journals. TU Wien Bibliothek followed Germany’s lead by organising the first Austrian version of an “MDPI Transparency Workshop”, where researchers had the opportunity to question the publisher’s practices in a direct dialogue with representatives of MDPI and discuss possible improvements.

Leonhard Suchenwirth, liaison librarian at TU Wien Bibliothek, moderated the event. Tobias Pohlmann from Kassel University Library gave data-based insights into MDPI’s development, including growth and temporary declines in publication figures, as well as aspects such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the role of special issues, an acceptance rate of around 40%, and retractions of 0.25 per 1000 publications. Representing MDPI, Peter Roth (head of publishing) and Sarah Klinnert (managing editor “Cardiovascular Medicine”) discussed the role of editors, editorial processes and quality management at the publishing house. The following discussion centred on time pressures in the publication process, selection and quality of reviewers, the role of special issues, metadata management for retractions, and institutional agreements.

Scientific journals without a publisher? TU Wien leads the way

TU Wien Bibliothek’s journal hosting service has for a number of years been supporting researchers who want to publish scientific open access journals without commercial publishers and without article processing charges (APCs). Known as “Diamond Open Access”, this model is at the centre of discussions on how to provide an alternative to large publishers and help scientific institutions achieve greater financial independence. 

At the workshop “Diamond Open Access in Österreich gemeinsam gestalten (Shaping Diamond Open Access in Austria Together)”, held at the University of Vienna in February, representatives of Austrian institutions discussed how these institutional services can achieve long-term success and visibility at a national level. TU Wien Bibliothek continues to participate actively in these discussions and is expanding its hosting service for TU Wien researchers to include conference proceedings. The software Janeway provides a suitable technical infrastructure for this purpose.

Open Access in the TU Wien Senate: Constructive exchange of ideas on strategic development

At the invitation of the Senate, library director Beate Guba presented TU Wien’s open access strategy on 26 January 2026. Following an overview of the library’s services, the focus was on agreements with commercial publishers who want to move from classic journal subscriptions to Gold Open Access. 

Most of these so-called transformative agreements are consortial agreements concluded by Austrian universities cooperating via the KEMÖ Austrian Academic Library Consortium. Thanks to project funds from the AT2OA(2) project and to cooperation with the FWF, the number of these agreements could be increased substantially. This led to a high rate of open access publications in the publication output, but the transition from subscription journals to Gold Open Access is still advancing very slowly.

As a member of cOAlition S, the FWF employs the so-called rights retention strategy and supports alternative publication platforms offering Open Peer Review, such as Open Research Europe (ORE). The Austrian Federal Ministry of Women, Science and Research (BMFWF) is also advancing Diamond Open Access within the current performance agreement and the ERA-NAP 2026–2028.

The following discussion centred on how universities can further strengthen their negotiating position vis-à-vis commercial publishers. Ingrid Haas, head of the service group Journals and Databases, is taking the ideas from the discussion with her to the KEMÖ. TU Wien Bibliothek is committed to promoting Open Access actively and sustainably and looks forward to further exchanges with the Senate.

TU Wien Academic Press new releases presented at Leipzig Book Fair

The publication „Frauengerechter Wohnbau in Österreich: Gleichstellungspolitischer Anspruch und strukturelle Relevanz von Modellprojekten“ by Sabina Riss appeared in time for the International Women’s Day. Women-friendly housing emerged from feminist planning debates. The book focusses on women-friendly model housing projects developed in the context of women’s politics in Austrian subsidised housing.

The newly published anthology „OFF! De-Centering Feminist Architectural History“, edited by Thomas Moser, Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber and Harald R Stühlinger, gives a voice to women architects from the “OFF-Stage”, those working in the shadows of the canon or at its margins. Through 27 short biographies and a series of scholarly essays, it presents global, intersectional, and queer-feminist perspectives on architecture and space. The volume advances a critical feminist historiography attuned to multiplicity, contestation, and the ongoing reconfiguration of architectural history.

These new releases and other publications from TU Wien Academic Press were presented from 19 – 23 March 2026 at the Leipzig Book Fair, the most important get-together in the spring for the book and media industry, at the exhibition stand of the Hauptverband des österreichischen Buchhandels (HVB).

PID.at Competence Center starts with a clear structure and achieves first successes

Acting on the performance agreement 2025-1017, TU Wien Bibliothek set up the PID.at Competence Center as a central point of contact for the use and further development of persistent identifiers (PIDs). The implementation is structured by means of five work packages. With two project positions filled, operational work started on schedule. 

At the same time, targeted measures were taken to position the Center: The corporate design has been finalised, and the website will launch in the next quarter. The preparation of a cost-benefit study by ORE Consulting is well under way, and will provide a data-based foundation for strategic decision-making. Regarding the introduction of new PIDs, a systematic analysis and assessment was conducted using SWOT analysis. A special focus is the Handle System.

In the field of action Outreach and Networking, the Competence Center was able to build visibility: A presentation at the FAIR Digital Objects Forum in Vienna and submissions to other international events strengthened exchange with European initiatives.

TU Wien as a pilot partner in the IP4OS project (Intellectual Property for Open Science) 

On the initiative of TU Wien Bibliothek, TU Wien took part in the IP4OS Pilot Learning Lab, a practice-oriented format for teams at the intersection of Open Science and knowledge valorisation. In three interactive sessions, participants from the areas Innovation and Knowledge Transfer, Patent and License Management, Innovation Incubation Center, Funding Support and Industry Relations, Data Protection and Document Management, and TU Wien Bibliothek tried out new approaches as a team, and developed concrete next steps. The Learning Lab fostered cross-discipline cooperation and delivered valuable impulses for future practice at TU Wien. More on the IP4OS project

2026: Quarter 2 - Second TU Wien Open Science Day | Vokabularies for knowledge infrastructures | TU Wien takes a leading role in EULiST | Diamond Open Access in Austria | E.V.A. visits the library

„Open Science in Action": Second Open Science Day at TU Wien

Open Science unfolds its effects where infrastructure, practice and community grow together. In this spirit, TU Wien Bibliothek convened the second Open Science Day at TU Wien on 13 May 2026 with the theme “Open Science in Action: Services, Strategies, Success!” More than 80 guests followed an exciting programme including a keynote address, specialist lectures, short presentations and two workshops. In her keynote address, Katharina Ehrmann from the Faculty of Technical Chemistry outlined a pragmatic pathway from fragmented raw data to research results conforming to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and impressively demonstrated the importance of repository metadata to AI. 

The first session centred on citizen science projects: Barbara Laa analysed the interaction between research and citizen initiatives in transport planning; Erich Streit presented a co-creative approach to the climate resilience of Austrian schools; Sebastian Mikolka-Flöry showed the potential of photogrammetry in citizen science. Two workshops — moderated by David Krassnig and Tanja North, and by Sarah Krassnig and Christoph Hornung — gave practical insights into open science tools. The final session looked at the European Science Cloud (EOSC): Andreas Rauber, Peter Purgathofer, David Kostolani and Negar Alinaghi discussed the interplay between open infrastructure, science policy frameworks and economic interests. 

The positive response of the participants confirms the value of the format as a forum for networking and interdisciplinary exchange. Presentations of the contributions are available in reposiTUm.

Keynote: “From secrets and data chaos to open science - our (open ended) quest to publish data meaningfully” - Katharina Ehrmann (Fakultät für Technische Chemie)

Participants filled the lecture room at the second Open Science Day at TU Wien on 13 May 2026: More than 80 researchers discussed perspectives and methods for an open science.

The power of metadata: Curated vocabularies for knowledge infrastructures

The Kulturpool Stakeholder Forum 2026 focused on the relationship between language, power and data in digital cultural heritage. Chris Schubert and Beate Guba represented the EOSC Support Office Austria in the programme with a lightning talk on the importance of curated vocabularies as a basis for open knowledge infrastructure. The presentation met with lively interest and gave rise to intense discussion. 

The event was organised by the Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture and Media (BMWKMS) together with Kulturpool, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), the Topotheque and the kärnten.museum. Post-event report on Kulturpool.at

Bridges between science and society: TU Wien takes a leading role in the EULiST programme for science communication

The European university alliance „European University Linking Society and Technology" (EULiST) is entering a new phase: After the foundational years, the alliance of eleven universities from ten European countries is now transitioning to deep institutional integration. From 11-13 May 2026, the EULiST Alliance gathered at LUT University in Lappeenranta, Finland, for its annual General Assembly. TU Wien was present in a major role: Rector Jens Schneider serves as Co-Chair of the Governing Board for the 2026–2028 term. A further milestone was the signing of an official cooperation agreement with the University of Stuttgart.

TU Wien also plays a major role in the task T5.4 “Science Communication Training” in the work package 5 (WP5) “Outreach, Engagement and Transfer”. Anna Franzkowiak (CTSi – Center for Technology-Driven Social Innovation at TU Wien) leads this task, with Juliana Giroletti of TU Wien Bibliothek as co-lead. This inner-institutional partnership between CTSi and TU Wien Bibliothek strengthens the leading role of TU Wien within the alliance. At Lappeenranta, the concept of a structured online training series on science communication, the art of communicating research in a manner that is easy to understand, accessible and socially relevant, was presented to the alliance’s PR unit to general acclaim. The training series is to consist of six online workshops for different target groups, including doctoral students, the alliance’s coordination team, and – as a special offer – an exclusive format for the most experienced researchers of the partner universities working on acquisition of third-party funding in competitive procedures. With this initiative, TU Wien contributes to the sustainability of the alliance through building competencies and targeted qualification: mastering science communication contributes to a lively dialogue between science and the general public, and to building trust in scientific findings.

Discussion on Diamond Open Access in Austria

As part of measure 2.1.2 of the National Action Plan for the European Research Area (ERA-NAP), the extension of not-for-profit open access publication models is being discussed. 

On 09 June 2026, the second workshop on this topic was held, with international speaker, representatives of Austrian universities, the Austrian Library Network and Service Ltd (OBVSG) and the Austrian Science Fund FWF. The OBVSG presented a concept study on establishing a central publication service for Diamond Open Access in Austria. In a next step, this study is to be augmented with qualitative interviews and further developed. TU Wien Bibliothek participated in the underlying survey and contributed its expertise. Event programme on OBVSG: BiblioVision 2026 – Diamond Open Access

E.V.A. visits the Library

Pupils aged 12 or older visited the library on 23 June 2026 to get to know library services and find inspiration in the Data Visualisation Space Davis. The programme was part of the educational outreach project E.V.A. – Recognize, Understand, Apply, led by Karin Katharina Tielsch und Bianca-Maria Köck. Working with concrete research questions, school classes explore the ways engineers think and work, as well as the practical applications of scientific research results.