Open access can neutralize some of disadvantages of smaller universities and let their other advantages come to the fore. Thanks to Donat Agosti for pointing out the example of wildlife biology at the University of Montana:
"And with the Internet, working in an out-of-the-way town like Missoula [Montana] is no longer the disadvantage it once was. “People say the library is small,” said Tammy Mildenstein, a graduate student who travels between here and the Philippines to study flying foxes. “But why not get it online and watch deer out your window?”" (NYTimes, May 6, 2007)
A very nice strong statement, that access to online libraries allows to move a away from the big science centers to the places, where the questions arise, be it Montana or increasingly in the developing world. We just need to assure that all our studies are open access or at least in self-archives.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/07/2007 09:41:00 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.