Khayala Hajiyeva: Azerbaijan’s OpenAIRE NOAD in Focus

Meet Khayala Hajiyeva, the Library Director at Azerbaijan Technical University and OpenAIRE National Open Access Desk (NOAD) for Azerbaijan. As a recent member of the OpenAIRE network, the representative from Azerbaijan Technical University has valuable insights to share with our community. In this interview, Khayala shares her journey into Open Science, the impact of her work with OpenAIRE, and the exciting projects driving change in Azerbaijan. Discover her vision for advancing Open Science in the region and her personal commitment to fostering an open research culture.

Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background and expertise?

My name is Khayala Hajiyeva from Baku, Azerbaijan. I have a bachelor's and master's degree in Library and Information Science from Baku State University. My professional experience spans three main areas: teaching at Baku State University and Azerbaijan Technical University, working in both public and academic libraries, and leading the development of modern library infrastructures. Currently, I am the Library Director at Azerbaijan Technical University (AzTU), where I am the project manager for the AzTU Modern Library project. The goal of the project is to rebuild a modern academic library with a contemporary infrastructure.

What motivated you to become a part of the OpenAIRE community?

I strongly believe that all academic and scientific resources and research outputs supporting scientific development should be accessible to everyone. As Open Access and Open Science initiatives are being promoted and supported in Azerbaijan, I'm also one of the pioneers who have been involved in the initiatives at the university level. To enlarge my support and activities in the international level, decided to join OpenAIRE MAKE the leading organization in the development of Open Science. My colleague, İltifat İbrahimov, and I were inspired by OpenAIRE's activities and collaboration opportunities. Together, we combined our expertise in terms of ICT, digitalization, legal, research, and data management to advance these initiatives in our country.

How would you define Open Science, and why do you believe it's important in today's research landscape?

Open Science is the movement to make scientific research, data, educational resources, software, access, and citations available to everyone, from professionals to the general public. Sharing in an open environment enables people to view each other's research outputs, draw conclusions, identify problems, and conduct new research to solve these issues, thereby fostering development. To expect the development all required nuances should be accessible such as infrastructure (digital repository), educational resources, scientific information, research output and research data. Open Science initiatives covers all the mentioned nuances.

Could you share some of the current projects or initiatives you're involved in related to Open Science?

The AzTU Library Information Center is a partner in the Erasmus+ K2 Developing Research through Institutional Repository Network in Azerbaijan (DIRNA) project. The purpose of the project is to build digital repositories for the Azerbaijan partners of the project. As a partner 8 Azerbaijani universities have been involved in the project. In addition, to the partnership, 3 European universities are the main stakeholders of the project. European universities share their experiences and provide quality control. The project aims to support Open Science by making university research results more accessible through a network of digital repositories using open-source resources with Open Access permissions.

Is there a particular aspect of Open Science that resonates with you personally? Could you tell us about it?

In my previous role, I dealt with subscription agreements and payments with academic databases. I noticed that our faculty members' publications were often inaccessible due to subscription expirations. This prompted me to think about building a digital repository to collect and preserve the publications of the university, making at least the abstracts available through the online interface of the digital repository. This experience highlighted the importance of Open Science in ensuring continuous access to research outputs.

How do you see Open Science evolving in the next decade, and what role do you hope to play in that evolution?

Open Science is rapidly evolving, and I believe it will significantly advance various fields in the next decade. In Azerbaijan, I foresee important steps are needed to take towards Open Science, including the formation of a country-level OS & OA legal document and the establishment of a unified open science environment. The mentioned support will ensure the development of collaboration Azerbaijan authors' and European researchers in the Open Science ecosystem.

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting to explore the world of Open Science?

Be active and communicative. Despite being new to OpenAIRE, we maintain regular contact with its members, write emails, attend meetings, and take proactive steps. Our initiatives are welcomed and encouraged by OpenAIRE representatives. Additionally, enjoy learning, developing, and implementing. Approach this volunteer duty with passion and interest is the main point. I recommend newbies in library and information management, start to explore the Open Science principles and involve local Open Access and Open Science initiatives. All local projects almost connected with regional or international initiatives. By involving the local projects new information specialists will have the opportunity to learn more about the initiatives and new roles and positions will be open at the international level.

Outside of your work in Open Science, what are some of your personal interests or hobbies?

I enjoy painting, particularly landscapes with oil paints, in my leisure time. I am also a member of the Europeana Digital Platform, where I love reviewing digitized artworks.

Could you share a memorable experience or achievement from your journey in Open Science so far?

One memorable experience was attending the Summer School "Library as a Community Cultural Space" within the framework of the project "EU4Dialogue: improving exchanges across the divide through education and culture" in Latvia in August 2023. During the visit to Eduards Veidenbaums' museum in Cesis, I captured a view of the poet's garden. Inspired by this visit, I painted the scene on canvas upon returning home and shared the photo of the canvas with the project team. It was included in the best memories of the project. 

Thank you for the interesting conversation, glad to have you on board!