Scholarly Communication

The new open access initiative is trying to enable a more socially responsible and equitable way of sharing scholarly work. The free exchange system has six parts:

1. Creation - key function of the model, the domain of scholars
2. Quality Control - the editorial process through peer review, also the domain of scholars
3. Production - the job of the publishers
4. Distribution - handled by both libraries and publishers, with libraries disseminating the finished publication to most readers
5. Consumption - the domain of scholars, students, and non-scholars
6. Support - provided by institutions (i.e. universities, governments, granting institutions and tax payers)

This type of sharing at low (or no) cost greatly undermines the current science journal market, which has become increasingly frustrating as prices have soared for these journals. This new open access initiative is making it possible for libraries on tight budgets to provide useful information to their patrons.

Relevant readings:

• Rose-Wiles, Lisa M. "The High Cost of Science Journals: A Case Study and Discussion," Journal of Electronic Resource Librarianship 23.3 (2011): 219-241.  
• Heidorn, P. B. (2011). The Emerging Role of Libraries in Data Curation and E-science. Journal of Library Administration, 51(7-8), 662–672.
• Stodden, Victoria. "Enabling Reproducible Research: Licensing For Scientific Innovation," International Journal of Communications, Law and Policy, 13 (Winter 2009): 1-25.
• Yiotis, K. (2013). “The open access initiative: a new paradigm for scholarly communications.” Information technology and libraries, 24(4), 157–162.