[GOAL] Re: "Public (Library) Access": A Predictable Publish Sop/Swap for Open Access

[Dana Roth]

I understand Heather Morrison's concern ... but the only way public libraries will be funded to provide additional computer/internet connections is thru additional use and complaints to local authorities.

However, I strongly suspect that any increase in the use of public library computers by researchers from institutions that cannot afford subscription access will be miniscule ... 

Dana L. Roth 
Caltech Library  1-32 
1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91125 
626-395-6423  fax 626-792-7540 
dzrlib at library.caltech.edu 
http://library.caltech.edu/collections/chemistry.htm 


-----Original Message-----
From: goal-bounces at eprints.org [mailto:goal-bounces at eprints.org] On Behalf Of Heather Morrison
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2014 6:30 AM
To: Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)
Subject: [GOAL] Re: "Public (Library) Access": A Predictable Publish Sop/Swap for Open Access

Some questions and comments from the perspective of a librarian and information studies professor:

If UK libraries are able to provide computers and internet access to members of the public, that's a good thing. However, if the UK is anything like Canada, then I would argue that there are more basic needs that public libraries need to meet. While as some of my colleagues are pointing out, many scholars have home computers and internet access, this is not true of everyone in the public. Here in Canada, line-ups at public libraries for computer and internet access and time limitations are quite common. Many people rely on these services in order to search and apply for employment and/or government services, to look up basic information needed for everyday life such as how to manage an illness, or for children or seniors, an opportunity to develop computer and internet skills that may be otherwise hard to come by.

For me this is a more important question than the convenience of scholars not having to bother going to the public library: is locating this service in public libraries likely to make it even harder for people without computers and internet at home to search for books, for K-12 students to do their homework, for seniors to connect with family? 

I am also wondering whether public libraries have the staffing to provide these services. Outside of large urban centers the kind of specialized expertise one finds in an academic or special library is not common. In a small to medium-sized branch library, staff typically have to be generalists, to manage everything from preschool storytime to engaging teenagers in learning activities to helping seniors and the disabled to managing facilities issues. 

These issues might be addressed by increasing funding to public libraries. I am completely in favor of increasing funding to public libraries, but would providing open access to scholars who have home computers really be a priority if further funding is available?

If public libraries are looking at this as a means to enhance their profile and standing, I argue that this is the wrong approach. Public libraries provide important services that can draw people to the library now and into the future. Forcing people to go to the library by taking on a gatekeeper role would not bode well for libraries.

Aside from the library perspective, this concerns me as a fiscal conservative. Forcing people to rely on public resources when not really needed is not a good use of tax dollars. 

I am not a member of THE so regret that I am not allowed to comment on their site. If someone else is a member and would be willing to point to or copy this post that would be appreciated.

my two bits,

Heather Morrison


On 2014-02-04, at 12:38 AM, Stevan Harnad wrote:

> [Re: Publishers launch free journal access for libraries (Paul Jump, 
> THE)]
> 
> The primary intended beneficiaries of research are the public that funds the research.
> 
> The primary way in which the public benefits from the research it funds is if all researchers can access, use, build upon and apply it.
> 
> Research is pubished in journals to which researchers' publicly funded institutions (mostly universities) subscribe.
> 
> But institutions can only afford to subscribe to a small fraction of those journals. because of the high price of journals and the scarcity of research funds.
> 
> That means that researchers are denied access to a large fraction of publicly funded research.
> 
> That means the public is losing a large fraction of the potential returns on its investment in the research in has funded.
> 
> Publishers not only overcharge for access to the publicly funded 
> research that researchers give them for free and that researchers 
> peer-review for them for free.
> 
> Publishers also deny (embargo) non-subscriber access for 6 months, a year, 2 years, or even longer to the researchers who can use, build upon and apply it if their institutions cannot afford to subscribe to the journal in which it is published.
> 
> And what do publishers offer as a remedy to the researchers, institutions and funding councils who have been calling for access to publicly funded research for all its potential users, not just subscribers?
> 
> Public library access: Let researchers from institutions that cannot afford subscription access betake themselves to a public library whenever they need to access research published in any journal to which their institution cannot afford to subscribe.
> 
> And this munificence is offered in an online era when all of research could be at the fingertips of all researchers whenever and wherever they are doing their scientific or scholarly research.
> 
> Meanwhile, let the public console itself by reading the research it has funded, while the researchers who can use, build upon and apply it are denied access unless they hightail it to the public library whenever they need to use anything to which their institutions cannot afford to subscribe.
> 
> Good job they didn't propose that it be made accessible at their 
> houses of worship instead. 
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