Libraries are the pillars of a free democracy. Access to quality information with a variety of sources and viewpoints is essential to an informed and free society, and libraries provide this access with a free (gratis) collection of unbiased, authoritative materials which will serve the needs of their communities....
The digital era is a revolution on par with the invention of movable type: information from a multitude of sources is now infinitely reproduceable and (theoretically) instantly available. This revolution, however, has been met with a new threat to freedom: the restriction of information through proprietary standards and restrictive usage licenses. Proprietary standards inherently limit the freedom to use and transmit information, as the standard owner has ultimate control over how, where and for what price the information will be accessed. Restrictive "user licenses" have eroded the doctrine of first sale to the point where publishers now assume the right to set access restrictions on digital information in perpetuity! Librarians have unwittingly decreased the freedom and availability of information by settling for proprietary formats and agreeing to the "license", rather than purchase, information.
No more. Now is the time for librarians to assert the right to promote the freedom of information for which libraries have always stood. Librarians must demand the aquisition of information which is sold, not licensed and standards which are open and free, not proprietary and legally-encumbered....
PS: The authors give proper attention to open source software and open standards, but seem to be unaware of open access literature.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/19/2006 01:26:00 PM.
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.
