Tendencies are changing in the scholarly communication landscape. The underlying principles of open access and open science are largely being supported in the worldwide research community, and open access policies are being developed by institutions, research funders and publishers alike. The question is no more IF or WHEN open access will be adopted, but rather HOW open access is being implemented. The 8th UNICA Scholarly Communication Seminar "The transition to Open Access: strategies and impacts" will address issues related to the implementation of open access. The Seminar, addressed to Directors of Libraries, of Information Services and of Learning Centres, Librarians, and Vice-Rectors for Research from UNICA member universities, will be kindly hosted by Université de Lausanne, 1-2 December 2016.