Open Access for Librarians: What, Why, and How?

Presentation given for Special Libraries class.

Open Access for Librarians: What, Why, and How?

I hear occasionally about how open access publications are not a viable option for scholars to publish in. In their essay Building the Profession-Research, Creative Activities, and Publication by Academic Librarians, Joan Beam and Cathy Cranston interviewed three new librarians about their publishing habits. “So far, each new librarian has chosen well-established journals in which to publish. Although all were aware of open-access journals in their field, they did not feel that it was worth the risk to publish in these lesser-known journals” (Gregory, 2005, p. 40). This sentiment is popular with scholars, but librarians are uniquely positioned to fight it. In the tenure and review process, librarians can explain the decision to publish in open access literature with authority, and explain to the review committee the reasons for choosing open access publishing.

Librarians need to be informed of open access publishing methods and ideology because it is becoming an increasing force in scholarly literature.

What is open access?

Open access (OA) means immediate, free and unrestricted online access to digital scholarly material, primarily peer-reviewed research articles in scholarly journals. OA was made possible by the advent of the internet. (Wikipedia)

There are two types of open access: Self-archiving, and open access journals.

Self-archiving: Users self publish (usually in an institutional or topical repository) and conform to OAI standards so search engines can treat the separate archives as one. These archives often contain pre- or post-print material that is also submitted to a print journal, or it may contain material unpublished in other formats.

Open access journals: These are often peer reviewed journals that are free and open to the public. Funding for the journal may come in a variety of ways – institutional support, grants, or even through the people that submit to the journal.

Why Open Access?

Not everyone has access. This may be because of money or location.

It is easy for librarians in larger institutions or cities to forget that the “standard” databases are not standard everywhere. In many cases, small libraries cannot afford even the most basic databases- but members of their communities still have a need for accurate information. Even in larger academic institutions, faculty are finding that they have to cut information from course packs that is essential to student’s learning. Karen Estlund describes a situation where “Professors cut readings from their syllabi so that students could afford to purchase course packs, frustrating their attempts to provide the education they wanted for their students” (Donovan and Estlund, 2007, “Karen’s story” section). Faculty may even find that they have to pay to be able to distribute their own research! “On one occasion, a faculty member was shocked when he learned that he had signed away the rights to his work, which was no longer his own to use for teaching” (Donovan and Estlund, 2007, “Karen’s story” section). These problems are not getting better, either. “permissions [are] increasing at a rapid per-page rate … Permission fees averaged $0.05 a page/copy in the 1990s but had risen by the year 2000 to an average of $0.10 a page/copy” (Donovan and Estlund, 2007, “Karen’s story” section). These rises in rates continue to be a problem, and more of the libraries budget must be spent to access precious few journals.

Another consideration for the librarian is the place where the user wants to access information. Georgie Donovan described her experiences of trying to teach students information literacy overseas:

“I quickly realized that my university, though well equipped with computer labs and state-of-the-art computer classrooms, had access to virtually none of the scholarly databases I knew. As a substitute, I turned to finding scholarly information on the Internet and put my energy behind teaching students how to evaluate sources critically. At that time, however, few peer-reviewed articles were available freely online in any discipline, and I experienced firsthand the knowledge divide–where groups of individuals have vastly different levels of access to information. In my situation, even a small subset of scholarly work would have been priceless” (Donovan and Estlund, 2007, “Georgie’s story” section).

This problem manifests itself as well in rural areas in the United States. Small, rural libraries don’t often have access to the big databases, and ILL may be difficult in a library staffed by one. However, even the smallest libraries can usually manage to get online. Open access resources can also be printed and distributed easily, so a librarian can print out information and give it to a patron. On a global scale, this allows for decentralized distribution, so even areas without Internet access can get materials cheaper, because they can be printed closer to their place of need.

Open access enables global communication and collaboration.

The Internet has brought with it globalization like the world has never known. People can now talk for free with someone on the other side of the globe as easily as with someone down the street. This has led to an increase in international collaboration on projects. Donovan and Estlund note that “factors stimulating the need to rethink our communications models” is “globalization and the intense need to do collaborative work with colleagues around the world” (2007, “Changing nature of research” section). Open access facilitates this collaboration by providing materials that everyone with an Internet connection has access to. Content locked behind a pay wall slows down distance collaboration, especially if there is no easy way to get the information out from behind the pay wall and share it. With open access, it’s usually as easy as sharing a link. Not only can the information be more easily shared, it can be more easily referenced in casual modes, like blogging, leading to an Internet with more trustworthy information. How often have you tried to follow a link to what looks like an interesting article only to find that it is locked behind a pay wall? For many people, this problem, though annoying, is not a big issue because they can go to their local library for the article- but not everyone has that luxury. Being able to share and reference information globally will increase scholarly communication dramatically.

Open access might keep prices and permissions reasonable.

Much has been said about the sharp increases in journal prices over the last 20 years. Librarians increasingly have to make choices between subscribing to expensive journals (the content of which is usually rented rather than owned) or buying books. However, open access allows affordable access to librarians, and in many cases does not hurt print publishing much. Peter Suber said that “a March 2006 study by the ALPSP found that high journal prices cause many more cancellations than OA archiving” (2007, “Trends favoring open access” section).

Some confuse the issue of open access publishing with a call for scholars to work for free, and this isn’t so. In fact, may scholarly journals pay nothing or very little already; if scholars are going to give their work away, it might as well be to the largest audience possible. Journals used to be necessary to facilitate distribution of scholarly literature, but now “the Internet allows distribution of perfect copies at virtually no cost to a worldwide audience. We can seize rather than fear the opportunities it creates” (Suber, 2003, para. 15).

The increases in prices and move to electronic forms of delivery have caused another problem for Librarians: that of access. In the past, a library subscribed to a journal, and they could then archive the journals so patrons have access to past content. Many journals now are rented , not owned. Armory, Dubbeld and Peters speak of the process in their article “Open Content, Open Access and Open Source?“:

“Now, instead of journal issues being sold and becoming the property of the buyer, as is the case for print journals, the ejournal is hired or rented out by the year; the subscriber buys access for a year to that journal and all preceding years one has paid for. As soon as the subscription lapses, however, access to all that has been previously paid for ceases” (2004, p. 5).

As more and more journals move to online only content, this becomes more of a problem. Peter Suber calls it the “permission crisis. It’s the result of raising legal and technological barriers to limit how libraries may use the journals for which they have so dearly paid. The legal barriers arise from copyright law and licensing agreements (statutes and contracts)” (2003, para. 2). This problem is especially troublesome when academic librarians have to pay for access to content produced by scholars at their own institution! Open access content allows libraries to “own, not merely license, your own copies of electronic journals. You would have the right to archive them forever without special permission or periodic payments” (para. 4).

Another problem with access locked behind proprietary databases and pay walls is that it makes it harder to effectively search across databases and pull together information from disparate sources. Most of us have had experiences with clunky databases that are difficult to use. Our patrons and users, untrained in using such databases, feel an even greater frustration, especially when the open Internet is easier to search and use. Open access journals that conform to the Open Archive Initiative standard have the advantage of being searchable across institutions- an engine can effectively treat all the disparate archives as one giant archive.

How can librarians help?

Librarians are already enacting change- both in their libraries and on their own by education others on open access. Laura Cohen recently reported that the “ACRL accepted my suggestion to create a hybrid book/wiki publication of the forthcoming Library 2.0 Initiatives in Academic Libraries. I thought the idea would be rejected, but took the risk anyway” (2006, Cohen). Libraries are building digital resources that are free and open to the public. Librarians are active voices in the open access community. Librarians will gain an advantage by keeping informed of open access developments.

Library students may have a difficult time finding information on open access int eh curriculum. Donovan and Estlund advise library students to “Establish contact with the person in your program or campus library who specializes in this area, and try to gain as much background as possible. Better yet, seek an internship or hands-on experience with your campus library” (2007, “Taking the step from awareness to action” section). Because of the ever changing nature of open access, the best approach may just be to read a few blogs and newsletters devoted to open access to keep up. While writing this paper, I had a hard time because everyone I opened my feed reader, I found new and interesting blog posts, articles, and papers that fit right in!

Talk about it.

As they say, talk is cheap. Just about anyone can talk about open access with their friends and colleagues. Open access will benefit greatly from more exposure- too many people are simply not aware that it exists! “Researchers themselves control the rate of progress toward OA, but after all these years most of them are still oblivious to its existence and benefits” (Suber, 2007). Mentioning open access, even in passing, can go a long way towards rectifying this. In reference interviews, don’t forget that there are open access resources out there for those who care to look. Some librarians may be afraid of pointing patrons to resources outside the library, because it may confirm the patron’s “everything is on the Internet” mentality, but I find that when people get good information and service, they are more likely to return. (An aside- when I worked in retail, I would often send people to other stores that carried what customers needed, many times because it was cheaper there. People were grateful, and came back to us more often than not.)

In addition to mentioning open access in casual conversation and in reference interviews, Employees can offer informal brownbags about open access. Donovan and Estlund remark: “even a new member of the library staff, freshly graduated from library school, can spearhead a brown bag series, where library staff discuss an article together or interact with a speaker to raise the collective awareness of salient issues” (2007, “Taking the step from awareness to action” section). A brownbag might focus on the best way to find open access, a discussion on the advantages and drawbacks of open access, or a few particularly good open access resources.

Submit to open access journals and archives

There are several open access journals devoted to Library and information science. One of particular interest to Library students is the Library Student Journal which accept submissions from any student studying Library and Information Science. Librarians can show a commitment to open access by “publish[ing] in open access journals when we can, routinely use pre- and postprint repositories, make deals with publishers to create hybrid publications, and use social software tools to create living, incomplete publications” (Cohen, 2007). Many state associations, including Nebraska, put the content of their newsletters online as well as publishing it in a paper format. This sets a great example, so it would be a great place to contribute. If only the ALA would follow suit with some of their publications!

When possible, Librarians and others publishing in information science should consider self archiving their articles, presentations, etc in the E-LIS repository which “aims to further the Open Access philosophy by making available papers in LIS and related fields” (2007).

Publish

There are many ways librarians can self publish or help with the publishing process. Libraries can take it upon themselves to print open access material of interest to their population, or take on roles similar to a small university press. One area in which libraries have been a leader in publishing is the advancement in online scholarly websites. These sites are usually open access and provide a wealth of information to the public. A scholarly website is developed around a theme, and material and critical content is added over time. A few examples of this, created by my workplace, the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, are the Walt Whitman Archive, the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the Willa Cather Archive. These are large undertakings, but even small public libraries can facilitate a small website on local history. Dorothea Salo talks about her role in publishing on her blog, Caveat Lector: “I am the enemy because I will become a publisher. Not just “can” become, will become” (Salo, 2007).

Sources Cited:

Amory, A., Dubbeld, C., & Peters, D. (2004). Open Content, Open Access and Open Source? Ingede: Journal of African Scholarship, 1(2), 1-12.

Cohen, L. (November 20, 2006). Library 2.0: An Academic’s Perspective: The Coming End of Completed Publications. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://liblogs.albany.edu/library20/2006/11/the_coming_end_of_completed_pu.html

Donovan, G., & Estlund, K. (2007). New librarians and scholarly communication: Get involved. College & Research Libraries, 68(3), 155-158. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Wilson Web.

E-LIS. (2007). Welcome to Eprints for LIS. Retrieved May 3, 2007, from http://eprints.rclis.org/

Gregory, G. (2005). The successful academic librarian : winning strategies from library leaders. Medford N.J.: Information Today Inc.

Salo, D. (December 15, 2006). Caveat Lector – Why I am the enemy. Caveat Lector. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://cavlec.yarinareth.net/archives/2006/12/15/why-i-am-the-enemy/

Suber, P. (February 2003). Introduction to Open Access for Librarians”. Retrieved April 15, 2007, from http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/acrl.htm

Suber, P. (2007). Trends favoring open access. SPARC Open Access Newsletter. Retrieved May 3, 2007, from http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/newsletter/05-02-07.htm

Wikipedia. (01:21, 14 April 2007.) Open access. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access

Other Selected Works.

Antelman, K. (2004). Do open-access articles have a greater research impact. College and Research Libraries, 65(5), 372-382.

Chan, L., Cuplinskas, D., Eisen, M., Friend, F., Genova, Y., Guédon, J., et al. (2002). Budapest Open Access Initiative. Retrieved April 27, 2007, from http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml

Cohen, L. (2007). Library 2.0: An Academic’s Perspective: The Campus is a User. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://liblogs.albany.edu/library20/2007/03/the_campus_is_a_user.html

Morgan, E.L. (2004). Open access publishing. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://infomotions.com/musings/open-access/open-access.pdf

Suber, P. (2007). Open-Access Timeline (formerly: FOS Timeline). Retrieved April 15, 2007, from http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/timeline.htm

Vershbow, B. (March 1, 2007). if:book: AAUP on open access / business as usual? Future of the Book blog. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2007/03/aaup_on_open_access_business_a.html

General Links:

Selected Open Access Journals in Library and Information Science:

You can find the photos I used in this presentation in my del.icio.us account with the tag “openaccesspresentation0507.”

The handout for the presentation is here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/47924/Dalziel-open-access-handout

This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 12:51 am and is filed under Publications, Presentations and Projects. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.