Open Access in Europe

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

A colleague and I (Dale Askey, our German & Scandinavian Studies library
specialist) exchanged a message or two about why OA seems a particularly
strong topic in Europe.  He makes some interesting points below about
diversity of cultures and practices, which seem worth sharing:

o Universities in some countries may have different publication
requirements for tenure than do American ones, so they may not have as
strong a concern for publishing in refereed journals as we do, hence some
possible additional enthusiasm for self-archiving.

o Another big element is that the populace generally doesn't have the same
access to scholarly resources that we have in the US.

He goes on, "It struck me during someone's talk the other day that
"reasonable access," i.e.- after six or twelve months, is a worthwhile
goal, and moreso, those in the US with a grain of initiative can have the
same access as a researcher if they head to their nearest academic
library.  If the local private university bars them at the door [note:  
Yale does not!] they can head to the nearest state school's library."

The tradition of widest public access in libraries does serve us well here
in the US and Canada, whereas we hear from many traveling researchers and
students that access in/to European libraries is often very difficult or
not generally permitted.  Is there a way in which such libraries could
open up access to library premisesmore broadly, to provide more access to
content in both print and "walk-in" electronic?  At Yale Library, we have
been fortunate to host European library interns and fellows from time to
time and send them home resolutely determined to change library access
conditions in their home countries.  Opening up our libraries in this way
would get us away from what seems the unhappy position of not wanting to
pay for research funded by taxpayers, while those same taxpayers also fund
the libraries they can't easily use.

Or is this unrealistic?

Sincerely, Ann Okerson/Yale Library