Abstract: The changing landscape of scholarly publication and increasing journal costs have resulted in a need for proactive behavior in libraries. At Johns Hopkins, a group of librarians joined forces to bring these issues to the attention of faculty and to begin a dialog leading to change. This commentary describes a comprehensive program undertaken to raise faculty awareness of scholarly communications issues. In addition to raising faculty interest in the issues at hand, the endeavor also highlights an area where library liaisons can increase their communication with the units they serve.
From the body of the paper:
Scholarly communication is approaching a crossroads. If the current system is
unsustainable, as many believe, and if technology has changed the landscape of
publishing, then a time for serious decision-making is at hand. There is a role for the
libraries and librarians in this enterprise - continuing to support authors and to
disseminate scholarly communications information until there is an economically
sustainable system that provides the widest possible access to scholarship. The goal of the
Hopkins’ scholarly communications initiative has never been to undermine the world of
scholarly publishing. It is not necessary to make everything free for libraries or to put
publishers out of business. Indeed, our goals are to ensure that Hopkins authors know
what their rights are, that they manage their own work in a way that benefits science as
well as their own needs, that they understand the business plans and philosophy of the
journals they work for, and that they take control of their own publishing destinies.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/22/2006 11:07:00 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.
