Abstract: This article features an interview with Jill Emery, Director of the Electronic Resources Program at the University of Houston. Ms. Emery discusses her career, the potential impact of the open access movement, and the nuances of licensing electronic resources.
From the body of the article:
NM: Are the hopes of open access as a means of wrestling power from publishers a realistic expectation for the library community?
JE: Information does not want to free; information is a commodity. Not with the current
models of open access, no. The current models are subscriptions that just aren’t called subscriptions. Will there be a model that will change the entire scholarly communication landscape? Probably, but it isn’t around yet and I cannot, for the life of me, fathom what it would be. Here are the tenets that require ubiquitous adoption of anything new: [1] Intuitive to use by all users (those publishing/those reading). [2] It doesn’t require a huge shift in the way current organizational structures work, but rather minor adjustments (in this case tenure structures).
[3] There is some type of understanding and/or trust in the entity that creates this new thing.
Comment. "The current models are subscriptions that just aren’t called subscriptions." This is flip. Emery seems to be thinking of the OA journal business model that charges author-side fees. If so, then she's making several mistakes at once. First, the majority of OA journals charge no fees at all, on either the author or reader sides. Second, where these fees exist, they are nothing like subscriptions. Subscriptions are access barriers that lock out those who cannot afford to pay. Subscriptions pay for private access or consumption. But processing fees at OA journals pay for open access, free for everyone with an internet connection, including those who have paid nothing. And third, of course, she ignores OA archiving.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/11/2006 11:00:00 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.
