Karin Dalziel // karin.dalziel.org // karin@nirak.

net // May 4, 2007

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it may contain material unpublished in other formats.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.

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Karin Dalziel // karin.dalziel.org // karin@nirak.net // May 4, 2007

Why Open Access?

Not everyone has access. This may be

because of money or location.

Open access enables global communication

and collaboration
Open access might keep prices and
permissions reasonable.

How can librarians help?

Start by reading and using open access journals!

Talk about it.

Open access suffers from many people not knowing it exists. Talk
about it with others, offer a brownbag, and show open access
resources in reference interviews.

Submit to open access journals and archives

There is an open access Journal especially for Library students: the

Library Student Journal <http://informatics.buffalo.edu/org/lsj/>
which accept submissions from any student studying Library and
Information Science.

You can also submit papers, presentations, and other items (the site
even contains podcasts!) to the E-LIS repository.
<http://eprints.rclis.org/> which “aims to further the Open Access
philosophy by making available papers in LIS and related fields”
(2007).

Publish

Bigger libraries may start large initiatives like the Lewis and Clark
<http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/> or Walt Whitman
<http://www.whitmanarchive.org/> archives, but smaller libraries
can start sites of local interest.

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Karin Dalziel // karin.dalziel.org // karin@nirak.net // May 4, 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). The coming end of completed

publications. Library 2.0: An Academic's Perspective.
Retrieved March 26, 2007 from
http://liblogs.albany.edu/library20/2006/11/the_coming_end_o
f_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). 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 Resources.

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

Morgan, E.L. (2004). Open access publishing. Retrieved April 16,

2007, from http://infomotions.com/musings/open-access/open-

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Karin Dalziel // karin.dalziel.org // karin@nirak.net // May 4, 2007

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_o
n_open_access_business_a.html

General Links:
Directory of Open Access Journals
<http://www.doaj.org/>
Peter Suber's Open Access Overview
<http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/overview.htm>
SPARC Open Access Newsletter and Discussion Forum
<http://www.arl.org/sparc/publications/soan>
Budapest Open Access Initiative
<http://www.soros.org/openaccess/read.shtml>

Selected Open Access Journals in Library and

Information Science:
ARIADNE
<http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/>
D-Lib Magazine
<http://www.dlib.org/>
E-JASL
<http://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/>
Information Research
<http://informationr.net/ir/about.html>
Journal of Issues in Informing Science & Information Technology
<http://iisit.org/>
Journal of Digital Information
<http://journals.tdl.org/jodi>
Library Student Journals
<http://www.librarystudentjournal.org/index.php>
LIBRES
<http://libres.curtin.edu.au/>

Note: you can find the full content of my paper, and

all links, at karin.dalziel.org

Go to the presentations section or search for “open

access.”