A story in the March 24 Library Journal reports that the Internet Public Library faces an uncertain financial future. The grants that helped launch it in 1995 have run out and it now survives on subsidy from its host, the University of Michigan. Quoting Maurita Holland, associate professor and assistant to the dean and director of academic outreach at UM: "We may need to make the case that IPL is not unlike a chemistry lab, which universities have traditionally expected to fund as part of the courses they offer." The Internet Public Library is a major portal to open-access literature. It also maintains a heavily-used virtual reference desk that answers about 1000 email questions per month and, over the years, has trained over 1000 virtual reference librarians. (Thanks to LIS News.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/26/2003 08:05:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
