[A]ll flavors and forms of open access impact the roles filled by academic libraries, but it is worth noting that these may vary. For instance, while the green model of open access will undoubtedly benefit scholars by globally providing scholarly material at no cost, with no access restrictions, other benefits such as budget relief may not be realized (Crawford, 2005b). In fact, it may strain budgets that are already being stretched by commercial journals. The scope of this paper is limited to academic libraries....It is not the intention of the author to paint a simple, rosy picture of the issues surrounding open access, nor to advocate a radical, wholesale shift thereto. Rather, it is suggested only that the issues surrounding open access be brought out into the open and discussed. While there are reasons academic libraries might be cautious about modifying the ways they support scholarly communication, there are myriad reasons to consider how they might best serve their communities with open access....[T]his is no longer a subject to be read about and debated; open access has arrived and is being rapidly adopted....There are numerous ways in which open access might impact an academic library, broken into the following categories in this paper: economic, technological, collection development & management, and the very roles that academic libraries play. Each of these impacts will be discussed in turn. There are impacts other than those examined in this paper, such as those concerning reference services, information literacy, and peer evaluaton, but research in these areas was light at the time references were gathered....Academic libraries are positioned to be at the forefront of the open access revolution, but it is altogether possible that they will allow themselves to be left behind. They stand to gain much by investigating potential new roles they might play in the transforming landscape of scholarly communication, but first they must consider the many ways in which they may be affected by open access, weighing significant costs against significant benefits and always with their communities' best interests in mind.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 3/07/2006 10:55:00 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.
