This document summarizes a presentation on how librarians are moving from hype to practice regarding open access publishing. It discusses librarians' varying views on open access, ways they are supporting open access through budgets, blogs, directories and organizations, and issues around discovery, evaluation and long-term access to open access content. It also provides one library's responses to these issues and how scholarly communication units are engaging with open access publishing.

1. Open Access Publishing :
Moving from Hype to
Practice
Steven Mandeville-Gamble
Associate University Librarian for Collections and Scholarly
Communication
Society of Scholarly Publishing Conference, May 27, 2009

2. Outline
n How is open access viewed by librarians
n How is open access publishing being taken up
by professional librarians in general and
collection development librarians in particular.
n Practical issues as librarians move from hype to
practice
n Scholarly Communication efforts in Libraries:
the librarian as publisher

3. Open Access: Views of the
Librarian(s)
n The library literature and water cooler conversations
reflect a range of opinions regarding open access
n Salvation from the serial crisis
n Peter Suber’ article “
s Removing the Barriers to Research: an
introduction to Open Access for Librarians”(College & Research
Libraries News, 64 (February 2003) pp. 92-94, 113).
n Cautious optimism
n Open-minded skepticism
n The Doubters

4. How are Librarians working with
Open Access Content
n Some librarians/libraries have suggested
spending a specific percentage of their
collections budgets to support open access
initiatives
n E.g. David W. Lewis, Dean of the IUPUI University
Library and Vice President of Scholarly
Communication, article “Library Budgets, Open
Access, and the Future of Scholarly
Communication”(IUPUI ScholarWorks, 2007. URI:
http://idea.iupui.edu/dspace/handle/1805/1167)

5. How are Librarians working with
Open Access Content
n Creating numerous blogs to share information
with one another:
n OA Librarian (http://oalibrarian.blogspot.com/)
n Open Access News
(http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/fosblog.htm
l)
n Open Access Directory
(http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/Main_Page)

6. How are Librarians working with
Open Access Content
n Identifying online sites listing scholarly open
access journals:
n Directory of Open Access Journals
(http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=subject&cpid=12
9)
n Open J-Gate (http://www.openj-gate.com/)

7. How are Librarians working with
Open Access Content
n Founding organizations, organizing conferences, and
just plain organizing
n SPARC (http://www.arl.org/sparc/)
n See: SPARC’ Advocacy site: (http://www.arl.org/sparc/advocacy/)
s
n Open Access and Libraries Conference 2009
(http://www.unabashedlibrarian.com/open-access-2009)
n Open Access Tracking Project
(http://oad.simmons.edu/oadwiki/OA_tracking_project )

8. How are Librarians working with
Open Access Content
n Advocacy in favor of Open Access
n E.g. ALA opposing HR 801 “ Fair Copyright in
The
Research Works Act” introduced by Rep. Conyers
,
(D-MI)

9. How are Librarians working with
Open Access Content
n What are librarians NOT doing?
n Not cancelling paid subscription journals in favor of
open access journals
n Not by-and-large choosing open access journals as
opposed to paid subscription journals based on open
access model alone, though there is some pressure to
do so. (See Stanford’ Faculty Senate Resolution)
s

10. Issues
n Discovery and selection of content
n Professional/Academic attitudes towards Open
Access content
n Longevity/durability of content
n Long-term access to content

11. One Library’ Response to the Issues
s
n At GWU, we are evaluating all content, open
access or otherwise, in terms of its
scholarly/resource content
n Working with the Collection Development staff on
how to identify open access content
n Working towards methodologies to evaluate OA
journals in terms of scholarly content

12. One Library’ Response to the Issues
s
n At GWU, we are describing open access content
in such a way as to be able to make it
discoverable
n Developing automated processes to import and
create catalog records for items in the DOAJ

13. One Library’ Response to the Issues
s
n We are implementing policies and procedures -
such as joining the LOCKSS Alliance and
PORTICO - to make that content available to
our researchers regardless of what happens to
the creators of the content.

14. One Library’ Response to the Issues
s
n We are working with the faculty to explain the
difference between open access and peer review
n Faculty Senate Committee on Research
n Faculty Senate Committee on Libraries

15. One Library’ Response to the Issues
s
n We are treating open access content as additive
to instead of as a replacement for our current
subscription-based journals
n Continuing to pay for subscriptions to Open
Access journals if their for-pay interfaces are
superior/meet the needs of our researchers

16. Scholarly Communication and Open
Access Publishing
n The role of Scholarly Communication units in
libraries on the open access landscape varies
greatly
n Institutional Repository vs. “Roach Motel”
n Open Access Publisher vs. “ Boutique
operations”

17. Conclusion(s)
n Libraries and librarians are moving from the hype of open access
towards implementation/ adoption / accommodation
n Most are feeling their way as they go and sharing their experience
with others (Blind leading the blind? Or The one-eyed leading
the blind?)
n Not endangering traditional publishers IF those publishers sell
services not content
n As Prosser and Ayris have indicated, if libraries shun their roles
as leaders of the open access movement, we will find ourselves
sidelined
n Prosser, David and Paul Ayris. “ACRL/SPARC Forum explores open
access models: the future of scholarly publishing”(C&RL News, Vol. 68,
no. 9 (September 2007))

18. Conclusion(s)
n Ultimately, publishers may have to heed the
admonitions of John H. Graham, President and
Chief Executive Officer of the American society
of Association Executives, who exhorted society
publishers to stop charging for the content and
instead figure out ways to charge for value-
added services. (“Fear Factor: Membership retention. How has the
Electronic Age affected Society membership?”Allen Press Seminar Keynote
Speech, April 17, 2008)