In 2001 I published a column in the SURF journal SURF Cahier (nr.30;November 2001). I referred to an article in a Dutch Elsevier weekly where librarians (and researchers) were pictured as book worms in their “marginal struggle” for new (business/technical) models for publication of scientific output. Our pleas for alternative models were then and now received with a bantering tone by publishers.
In the column I predicted that the book worm could turn out to be a snake in the grass!
And indeed we DAREd to bite: the DARE project was the basis to start institutional repositories, and in 2007 it turns out to be a success with international standing....
And the publishers now think the best antidote to the snakebite is to hire a ‘pit bull’: they hired a well known aggressive PR agent (Dezenhall Resources) to take on the free-information movement. The article [in Nature] states ‘The publishers' link with Dezenhall reflects how seriously they are taking recent developments on access to information’.
I think we could see this as a victory for the book worms. And we really should welcome this because it could mean that publishers finally realize that the efforts from the bookworms have impact. Only now they may be ready to take serious steps in thinking with us about the real changes that have to be made to opening access to publicly funded information....
This wiki is maintained by TU Delft Library. We welcome your contribution!
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/15/2007 11:41:00 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.
