[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #210: Open access news

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #210: Open access news
December 29th, 2010

stoplight 
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/stoplight_green.png>For 
our last posting of 2010---and following on the heels of 
last week's posting 
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?p=1530> about content 
farms---we're going to take a look at a variety of recent 
news items related to open access to high-quality 
information. We're using a loose definition of "open 
access"; the tighter definition of Open Access 
<http://www.earlham.edu/%7Epeters/fos/brief.htm> ("OA") 
typically refers to scholarly research articles and includes 
not just no-cost access but specific licensing arrangements. 
Some academic publishers are moving towards support for OA 
scholarly journal articles, and two of the news items below 
deal with that business trend. The other two news items are 
about other types of content to which access might typically 
be restricted now, but which may someday be freely available 
on the Internet.

    * The economic case for open access in academic
      publishing
      <http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/11/the-economic-case-for-open-access-in-academic-publishing.ars>
      (Ars Technica/Adam Stevenson) "Publishers [of academic
      journals] receive 68 to 75 percent of their revenue
      from academic library subscriptions. Corporate
      subscriptions account for 15 to 17 percent of revenue.
      This revenue goes largely to the first copy costs, and
      these costs are the same for both traditional and open
      access content. Thus, the revenue stream is critical
      for hard copy, online only, and open access content.
      Any system that eliminates the need for subscriptions,
      like open access, would therefore force academic
      publishers to completely change their business models."
    * Demand growing for open access science texts and tools
      <http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/12/building-sustainable-open-access-science-texts-and-tools.ars>
      (Ars Technica/John Timmer) "Why are traditional
      publishers, some of which have had ambiguous views of
      open access publishing, suddenly rolling out free
      services? Some of it is obvious self-interest. By
      making their content easier to find and adding value
      to the experience of reading it, these services can
      increase the demand for the publishers' primary
      product: subscription journals. The services also act
      as a lure to get people browsing the publishers' sites
      in the first place."
    * Berkman Center announces Digital Public Library
      planning initiative
      <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/newsroom/digital_public_library>
      (Berkman [Harvard] press release) "Planning activities
      will be guided by a Steering Committee of library and
      foundation leaders, which promises to announce a full
      slate of activities in early 2011. The Committee plans
      to bring together representatives from the educational
      community, public and research libraries, cultural
      organizations, state and local government, publishers,
      authors, and private industry in a series of meetings
      and workshops to examine strategies for improving
      public access to comprehensive online resources."
    * Accessibility & Open Access
      <http://ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ogr/issuebriefs/access_issue_brief.pdf>
      (ALA Office of Government Relations Issue Brief, Dec.
      2010 [*pdf*]) "The Federal Research Public Access Act
      [FRPAA] of 2009 (S. 1373) was introduced in June 2009,
      with the House version introduced in April 2010.
      According to both bills' language (as they mirror each
      other), their purpose is, 'To provide for Federal
      agencies to develop public access policies relating to
      research conducted by employees of that agency or from
      funds administered by that agency.' [...] Undoubtedly,
      such an archive would allow librarians the ability to
      better assist library patrons with their information
      and research needs as well as allow direct access by
      the public."

*/Timely Fact:/*

On Monday, the National Archives released the prototype of a 
new Online Public Access 
<http://www.archives.gov/research/search/> search interface 
for accessing millions of digitized government records.
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